House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Republicans have no rationale for trying to discipline three New Jersey Democratic members of Congress over their skirmish with ICE agents at an immigration detention facility in Newark on Friday.
“There’s no evidence to suggest that any member of Congress who was in Newark visiting the detention facility in connection with their oversight authority has done anything wrong,” said Mr. Jeffries, New York Democrat, on Thursday.
Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez made an unannounced visit to the Delaney Hall detention facility to conduct congressional oversight. ICE agents sought to block their entry, leading to a physical fight with the lawmakers and others trying to enter the facility.
“No videos have been produced suggesting that they’ve engaged in any inappropriate activity,” Mr. Jeffries said. “And if those videos existed, certainly they would have been put into the public domain by now. Those videos haven’t been released because they don’t exist.”
However, the Homeland Security Department released a video of Ms. McIver jostling with ICE agents. It showed her throwing an elbow into one officer’s back and appearing to strike a different agent with her fist.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said Thursday that Ms. McIver’s actions should be subject to criminal prosecution.
“In my view, as a former practicing attorney, it looked like a battery to me,” he said.
“I do think there is a role for the federal Department of Justice to play here, and I would encourage that to happen because we have to set these standards here,” Mr. Johnson added. “You cannot have members of Congress pushing law enforcement officials around. And that’s exactly what everybody saw in the videotape.”
Republicans are also weighing formal House punishment. Mr. Johnson said censure, expulsion and kicking the members off committees are all under consideration.
Mr. Jeffries pushed back on Mr. Johnson’s suggestions.
“There is zero basis to hold any member of Congress accountable, either as a result of House floor action or activity based on weaponizing federal law enforcement against members of the Democratic Party,” he said.
Mr. Jeffries said he’s not concerned any Democrats would join Republicans in supporting censure or another disciplinary measure brought against the New Jersey lawmakers.
“The members of Congress, Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez, were the ones who were subjected to overly aggressive behavior by people who were weaponizing the authority of the federal government as part of some effort to try to intimidate House Democrats,” he said. “It’s not happening. They will not be successful.”
The Washington Times reached out to Ms. McIver, Ms. Watson Coleman and Mr. Menendez for comment.
• Alex Miller contributed to this report.
