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House Republicans are likely to try to pass a resolution to formally discipline three New Jersey Democratic members of Congress who are accused of storming an ICE detention center in Newark on Friday.
Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez went to Delaney Hall for what they said was to conduct congressional oversight.
The visit, however, was unannounced and ICE agents sought to block their entry, which led to a physical altercation with the lawmakers and others trying to enter the facility.
The Homeland Security Department accused Ms. McIver of assaulting a federal officer, sharing a video of her jostling uniformed agents. The video showed her throwing an elbow into one officer’s back and appearing to strike a different officer with her fist.
The disciplinary options House Republicans are mulling are censure, expulsion or kicking the members off committees, Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said Wednesday.
“We’re looking at what is appropriate,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear that the law was violated.”
Censure is a formal rebuke that will ding a member’s record but carries no lasting consequences.
“That probably does seem appropriate here,” Mr. Johnson said.
However, the speaker didn’t rule out the other two options.
Kicking members off committees is “a new tradition begun by the Democrats in recent years,” he said, without further comment on whether it fits this case.
Expulsion, which removes a member from the House, is a steeper hill to climb because, unlike the other two options, it requires a two-thirds majority vote.
“That’s not likely because the margins are small on both sides,” Mr. Johnson said. Still, he refused to rule it out, since Republicans are “talking through all the possibilities.”
Mr. Johnson likened the situation involving the three New Jersey lawmakers to a Wisconsin judge who was indicted Tuesday on obstruction charges after helping an illegal immigrant evade federal agents last month.
“What these House Democrats did is in that same lane, the same vein of what the judge is being indicted for,” the speaker said. “So I think there’s some legal ramifications to play out here, and we’ll see how it unfolds.”
The Washington Times reached out to Ms. McIver, Ms. Watson Coleman and Mr. Menendez for comment.
In a statement on Friday, Mr. Menendez said the Trump administration was spreading “lies and misinformation” about the incident.
“We have a legal right to conduct oversight at any DHS facility without prior notice, as we have already done twice this year,” he said. “Throughout every step of this visit, ICE attempted to intimidate everyone involved and impede our ability to conduct oversight.”
The New Jersey Democrats and colleagues supporting their actions have said they did not violate the law.
ICE is required to allow members of Congress into their facilities when they show up. That provision was added to the law roughly five years ago after Democrats were blocked from access during the first Trump administration.
“Nothing in this section may be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility described in subsection (a) for the purpose of conducting oversight,” the law, which is posted on ICE’s website, reads.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, confronted Secretary Kristi Noem about the incident during a hearing Wednesday.
Homeland Security said last week that the lawmakers had tried to “storm” the facility by using the arrival of a busload of migrants as an opening.
Mr. Thompson said the department then “lied” about the events and that “masked ICE personnel” assaulted the members of Congress.
“It’s a sad day for the Department of Homeland Security,” the Mississippi lawmaker said.
Ms. Noem said members of Congress are welcome at any time, under the law, but they have to present identification and go through screening before being admitted.
Homeland Security sent out a reminder Wednesday to members of Congress with ICE guidelines that acknowledge the law does not require them to provide notice of their intent to enter a facility but suggests they do so when wanting to meet with detainees because of paperwork, like privacy releases, involved.
“All members and staff need to comply with facility rules, procedures and instructions from ICE personnel on site for their own safety, the safety of the detainees and the safety of ICE employees,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “If these three members had simply asked for a tour, these three congressional members would have been easily allowed into Delaney Hall and would not have had to resort to assaulting law enforcement to enter the facility.”
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