Judges on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have refused to dismiss an assault case pending against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., over her actions against agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a New Jersey detention center.
McIver was part of an “unannounced visit” by various Democrat officials to the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark in 2025.
Their staged confrontation with federal officers devolved into chaos and that resulted in a physical standoff between ICE agents and the Democrats.
McIver was charged with three counts, including assaulting and impeding federal officers, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka also was cited.
🚨 BREAKING: A federal appeals court has REJECTED Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver’s immunity defense after she ASSAULTED ICE agents in Newark, 2-1
FAFO!🔥
Video shows McIver, in a red jacket, committing FEDERAL FELONIES by striking MULTIPLE ICE agents during a fit of entitled… pic.twitter.com/TZo5ELQ4Tt
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 26, 2026
🇺🇸BREAKING: A federal appeals court just rejected Rep. LaMonica McIver’s claim that she is immune from prosecution for assaulting ICE officers during a May 2025 oversight visit to a NJ detention facility.
The 2-1 panel ruled that her charged conduct outside Delaney Hall was…
— NewsForce (@Newsforce) August 26, 2026
A report from Fox News said McIver claimed she is immune from prosecution because when she “slammed her forearm” into a federal officer who was trying to arrest Baraka, that was part of her official duties in Congress.
The 2-1 decision, made by Biden-appointed Judge Cindy Chung and Trump-appointed Judge Stephanos Bibas, stated that McIver’s argument of legislative immunity would not stand for two of the three counts, while the third count was sent back to a lower court for further review.
On the count stemming from her use of her forearm against an officer, the appeals concluded her “alleged intervention into the Mayor’s questionable arrest had no cognizable connection to any legislative function” protected by the Constitution.
The second count affirmed was similar, in that she allegedly used her forearms to “strike [an officer] as she returned inside of the secured area of Delaney Hall.”
The judges said, “Like the acts charged in Count One, the acts of pushing past and forcibly striking someone are unambiguously non-legislative: they are not integral to the legislative process.”
McIver complained that “the court got it wrong.”
She has alleged she was on an “oversight” visit to the detention facility in Newark.
She has pleaded not guilty.
Earlier, U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper found that McIver must face the charges.
“Impeding an arrest, whether lawful or unlawful, goes beyond any reasonable definition of oversight and, accordingly, exceeds the safe harbor of legislative immunity,” Semper ruled. “No genuine legislative purpose was advanced by defendant’s alleged conduct.”
‘Political retaliation’: Judge won’t let ICE-storming congresswoman off the hook
