House Democrat Facing Charges Melts Down Before Censure Vote

A Democrat in the U.S. House facing charges for disrupting a federal immigration facility lashed out on Thursday after it became clear that leadership intended to pass a resolution censuring her for her actions.

The measure, introduced by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), came in response to the arrest of Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), who last month was charged with allegedly assaulting U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents outside a facility in her home state where illegal immigrants were being held.

Higgins’ resolution calls for McIver’s removal from the Committee on Homeland Security, “which is charged with oversight of Federal immigration enforcement and other national security matters” and says that her continued service “would represent a significant conflict of interest.”

McIver blasted her GOP colleague for targeting her.

“Clay Higgins is a bigot who wants to be back in the news,” she told Axios.

“This resolution aims to kick me off the committee that presides over the Department of Homeland Security and shame me for doing the oversight work that is my job,” she reportedly added. “Good luck, Clay.”

Text from the resolution references McIver’s “three-count indictment by a Federal grand jury for assaulting, resisting, impeding, and interfering with Federal officers” during a donnybrook on May 9 outside the Delaney Hall Federal Immigration Facility in Newark, N.J.

It states that “clause 1 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives provides, ‘A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House'” and that “such actions of a Member of the House of Representatives do not reflect creditably on the House,” Fox News reports.

Outrage by Democratic lawmakers has resulted in contentious confrontations in front of federal immigration facilities, including McIver’s protest with other party members. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka provoked authorities after he entered a restricted area, causing chaos to ensue.

When officers tried to intervene, McIver allegedly “slammed her forearm” and blocked their path to Baraka while grabbing another officer.

After leaving court where she pleaded guilty, McIver told the press, “At the end of the day, this is all about political intimidation.”

“The Trump administration and his colleagues or cronies, or whatever you want to call them, have weaponized the federal government. They weaponized the Department of Justice and anybody who stands up to them, anyone who criticizes them, anyone who fights back against them finds themselves in these hairs that we are in today,” she added.