Rep. LaMonica McIver indicted on federal charges over clash with law enforcement at ICE facility in New Jersey
Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was indicted Tuesday on federal charges stemming from a confrontation with law enforcement at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark last month.
Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba said in a post on X that a federal grand jury indicted McIver on three counts for 'forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.'
'While people are free to express their views for or against particular policies, they must not do so in a manner that endangers law enforcement and the communities those officers serve,' Habba wrote.
McIver called the legal proceedings against her 'a brazen attempt at political intimidation,' and said she will be pleading not guilty.
'The facts of this case will prove I was simply doing my job and will expose these proceedings for what they are: a brazen attempt at political intimidation," she said in a statement.
"This indictment is no more justified than the original charges, and is an effort by Trump's administration to dodge accountability for the chaos ICE caused and scare me out of doing the work I was elected to do.'
The indictment comes three weeks after the Justice Department filed charges against the Democratic lawmaker for allegedly assaulting law enforcement at an ICE facility in Newark.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Troops are now patrolling Los Angeles. This is a disaster waiting to happen
This was the moment that Donald Trump was waiting for. A Democratic city, Los Angeles. A Democratic state, California. His most popular issue, immigration. And protests where occasional violence could be spotlighted endlessly on social media. What better time to summon the troops and burnish the president's tough-guy image. But Trump should be careful what he wishes for. The spectacle of needlessly calling in 4,000 national guard troops and 700 Marines may be red meat for his Maga base, but for most everyone else it is a bright warning sign of Trump's autocratic tendencies. Rather than quell the protests, he is provoking more, not only in LA but in at least two dozen cities across the US. Even if this is not yet the mass mobilization that such repression has sparked in other countries, it is making Trump's true colors clear. Surrounded by sycophants, living in an echo chamber, Trump seems oblivious to his overreaching. Yes, immigration has been his strong suit, but the issue is more complex than he imagines. Many Americans were disturbed by the large number of immigrants streaming across the southern border, but there is an enormous difference between bolstering border enforcement and raiding immigrant neighborhoods and workplaces. Trump officials want Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents to deport 3,000 people a day. But with Trump having largely stopped the border influx, the easy path to mass deportations – returning people who just arrived – is largely closed. His administration thus has pressured Ice agents to detain undocumented immigrants throughout the country. And because it is time-consuming to target one by one people who have a criminal record or a pending deportation order – the less controversial cases – Ice is turning to random raids on places where undocumented immigrants are assumed to congregate. An estimated 14 million undocumented immigrants live in the US. A 2017 study estimated that two-thirds of such immigrants at the time had been in the US a decade or more. These people typically work jobs, pay taxes and build families, frequently with US-citizen spouses and children. They are Americans in all but legal status. Deporting them rips holes in households and communities. If not for the polarized politics of Washington, these longtime residents would have long ago been given a path to regularize their immigration status. If we decline to prosecute most crimes after five years, in part out of recognition that at some point people should be able to move on with their lives despite what they have done in the past, why not have a similar statute of limitations for deportations? But that is not the world we live in, even if the impulse behind it is broadly shared. Trump's workplace and community raids are bumping up against public recognition that over time, the equities of immigration shift, that the manner of immigrants' entry is overcome by the unfairness of disrupting the lives they have built. Even some Republican lawmakers are now warning that Trump has gone too far. It is no wonder that these raids have sparked protests. And Trump has responded in the lawless way that is his wont. There was nothing extraordinary about the initial LA protests that local law enforcement authorities could not have handled on their own. California's governor, Gavin Newsom, accused Trump of choosing 'theatrics over public safety'. The national guard, not to mention the marines, were not needed or wanted. Yet Trump, dying to flex his muscles, mobilized them anyway. Not since 1965 has a US president deployed the national guard without a request from the state's governor. Then, Lyndon Johnson ordered it to protect civil-rights marchers in Alabama from a segregationist governor, George Wallace. Now, in a sad parody of that historic moment, Trump called on it to trample people's right to protest his cruel immigration policies. As for the marines, US law prohibits deploying them or other troops for policing purposes absent an insurrection. Trump calls the protesters 'insurrectionists', his defense secretary claims a 'rebellion', but those assertions are farcical. Instead, Trump is invoking yet another fake 'emergency' to justify handing himself extraordinary powers. The ban on policing by the military is founded on good sense. Troops are trained for war, where they can shoot to kill opposing combatants. But police can use lethal force only as a last resort to meet an imminent lethal threat. Asking troops to police is an invitation to brutality. And Trump goads them on by dehumanizing the protesters as 'animals' and 'a foreign enemy'. Having broken the taboo against deploying troops for law enforcement, there is every reason to fear that Trump will continue as protests inevitably spread. The next occasion may be this coming Saturday, when he has scheduled a big military parade in Washington to mark the 250th anniversary of the US army – which also falls on Trump's 79th birthday. Army officials worry that the parade 'could make it appear as if the military is celebrating a crackdown on Americans'. That is undoubtedly what Trump wants. To make matters worse, Trump is already threatening people who might demonstrate against his military extravaganza: 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force.' Even a peaceful demonstration? What about the first amendment? For Trump in his flout-the-constitution mode, those are irrelevant details. In his first term, the 'grown-ups in the room' often were able to restrain Trump's most dangerous tendencies. This time around, only die-hard loyalists are left. Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, defended the military deployment in LA. It is hard to imagine him resisting whatever outrage Trump might next try to commit. Trump's military posturing is another step in the autocrat's playbook. Just as he has attacked judges, lawyers, journalists, universities, elected officials and other potential checks on his power, so he is now taking a stab at the public. Protests are an important way to rein in abusive leaders. In many countries, they have proved decisive. Trump's military threats aim to limit that possibility. Aspirations aside, Trump has not yet managed to build an autocracy. It is important not to exaggerate, because that can demoralize the resistance and obscure how much difference it is making. But it is essential that we keep in mind not only the wrongfulness of Trump's conduct in LA but also the broader plan of which it is a part. The danger is not the protesters. The danger is Trump. Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, is a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs. His book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, was published by Knopf and Allen Lane in February
Economist
an hour ago
- Economist
The meaning of the protests in Los Angeles
THE MOOD changed by the moment. On June 8th a woman hugged her two young daughters on a bridge overlooking the 101 freeway in downtown Los Angeles. Vendors sold Mexican flags and protesters adjusted the rhythms of their chants. 'Move ICE get out the way' morphed into 'Donald Trump, let's be clear, immigrants are welcome here'. It felt like a neighbourhood block party—if block parties encouraged graffiti. But chants turned to screams as police exploded flash-bang grenades to clear the road. The two young girls grimaced and hustled away. California Highway Patrol officers paced in riot gear, their less-lethal weapons aimed at the crowd. Some protesters lobbed bottles at police, who dodged the projectiles. Nearby, several Waymo driverless cars were set aflame.
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
ICE enforcement in LA triggers alarm among school communities
"We are a melting pot of beautiful, incredible people," Enriquez said to the crowd before wiping a tear from his eye. "This incredible community, all of these students, all of these parents, guardians, friends and family, it is because of you that these young people are here ready to go on to that next step - to that high school life, to represent each of us as an incredible member of society." Some families too afraid to attend the graduation out of fear of increased presence of immigration enforcement officials across the city didn't hear the principal's message. They and many other Angeleno immigrants who live in the sanctuary city are foregoing the chance to witness their young loved ones receive diplomas or advance to the next grade at upcoming school graduation ceremonies out of fear of getting deported. "I've spoken with parents who've told me that their daughter would be the first in their family to graduate high school and they're not going to be there to witness it, because they have a fear of the place of graduation being targeted," said Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which covers the majority of the city and some surrounding areas of Los Angeles and serves more than a half of a million public school students, during a June 9 news conference. More than one-third of Angelenos are immigrants. ICE detained a Los Angeles fourth grader from Torrance Elementary School and his father in Texas on May 29. They are expected to be deported to Honduras. The young child's deportation has left a wound. "When something like this happens, it shakes all of us in the community," Torrance Elementary PTA volunteer Ria Villanueva told The Los Angeles Times. Homeland security agents attemped to enter two Los Angeles schools in early April, but they were denied entry. Arrests of young people by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are happening nationwide in other targeted American communities, such as Milford, Massachusetts, where an 11th grader's arrest and detention by ICE has heightened anxiety among the area's immigrants, and in New York City, where educations officials say ICE have recently arrested and detained two students. "President Trump is keeping his promise to deport illegal aliens and the law enforcement officers conducting operations do so efficiently and professionally," said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, in response to a question from USA TODAY about the Trump administration's enforcement on immigration at and around schools. "Individuals, like the violent rioters in LA, who try to obstruct or deter operations put law enforcement officers and law abiding citizens at risk." The Trump administration's increased immigration enforcement and related protests around LA Unified schools over the last several weeks have put parents, students and school officials on especially high alert. After law enforcement officers deployed flash-bang grenades against protesters near a Los Angeles Unified elementary school campus, the school community went into lockdown on June 6. The tensions have left the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest district in the nation, at the center of the national battle on immigration deportations and family separations. Ahead of future graduation ceremonies in the district, Carvalho said he said he has directed Los Angeles Unified school police to stand at the front lines and "intervene and interfere with any federal agency who may want to take action during these joyous times that we call graduation." What's happening around Los Angeles Unified schools? The Los Angeles families' anxieties come after a series of Trump administration-led anti-immigrant actions in the city, making it a national battleground for President Donald Trump's long-promised crackdown on illegal immigration. President Donald Trump and his administration have deployed thousands of National Guard members to the nation's second-largest city since June 8. The National Guard entered Los Angeles after citizens who were angry about immigration raids in the city, including one at a Home Depot, launched largely peaceful demonstrations against the administration's enforcement of illegal immigration. How did the LA protests begin? A look at the immigration raids that sparked outrage Chaos and violence have since erupted across Los Angeles, resulting in the detainment of some immigrants, destruction of city property and fear and hiding among immigrant families and children of immigrants who attend school across the region. 'President Trump is keeping his promise' California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vehemently objected against the immigration raids and deployment of federal guards, even filing a lawsuit against Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth alleging they deployed "members of the California National Guard, without lawful authority, and in violation of the Constitution." "Instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and people with final deportation orders - a strategy both parties have long supported - this administration is pushing mass deportations - indiscriminately targeting hardworking, immigrant families regardless of their roots or risk, " Newsom, a Democrat, said in a video posted on Instagram. There's no sign that the immigration raids will end. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on X on June 9 that they will deploy about 700 active duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles "to restore order." Trump has also threatened to arrest Newsom for challenging the federal government. 700 Marines Heading to LA; Newsom calls move 'deranged fantasy' of Trump Federal immigration activity near school campuses threatens a 'fundamental right' A third-grade elementary school teacher in the district, who asked to remain anonymous because she is worried that her school and her students will be targeted by immigration enforcement officials if she is identified, said she has felt deep fear and constant anxiety in her students about them or their families being detained by ICE officials. She said many kids in her classroom whose parents are undocumented immigrants, some of whom are newcomers from Guatemala, are worried about being deported or separated from their families. Their fears have intensified since immigration raids have occurred close to the school. Attendance was unusually low and many school bus stops were eerily quiet during the last two days of school in her classroom on June 9 and 10, she said. "I try to pretend everything's normal when everything's falling apart outside of the school," she said. Her six-year-old son, who attends the same school where she teaches, found about about the immigration raids through friends and told her, "Mom, I'm glad you have papers so they can't take you." Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Carvlaho said in a statement on June 6 that he is "dismayed" by the recent immigration enforcement activity occurring near district schools. "These actions are causing unnecessary fear, confusion, and trauma for our students and families - many of whom are simply trying to get to and from school and work, and to live with dignity," Carvalho said. The presence of federal immigration activity near school campuses threatens prevents schools from being a "safe haven" where students "can learn, grow, and thrive without fear of being separated from their loved ones," he said. California State Superintendent of Education Tony Thurmond called Trump's military deployment and mass immigration raids "unnecessary," "a betrayal of our American values" and "an assault on all Californians" in a statement on June 9. Thurmond said about half of California kids have at least one immigrant parent. "Innocent children should never be in handcuffs, and families should never be torn apart by our government. Our children deserve to be protected and cared for, not terrified at school or ripped from their families," Thurmond said. "Let's be clear: When the President targets our immigrant families, he harms California's children." California State Superintendent: 'Deeply dangerous for our children' California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Thurmond have called on Trump to end the mass immigration raids and pull back National Guard troops from Los Angeles for the safety of Los Angeles families. "My message to President Trump is very clear: keep your hands off California's kids," Thurmond said on June 9. "The President's unchecked, unnecessary deployment of our nation's military to the city of Los Angeles is deeply dangerous for our children, for our families, and for our country." The officials' sentiments haven't calmed the widespread fear among many of the city's vast immigrant communities. Britt Vaughan, a spokesperson for Los Angeles Unified school district, said that parents and community members have been anxiously calleing into schools to report federal immigration activity in their communities. Enriquez, from Palms Middle School, told students and their families at the commencement ceremony to use the momentum of graduation as an opportunity to stand up to what he called "injustice" against their community. "Be empowered. Injustices exist in the world," he said. "Speak up. Stand up against any injustice anywhere." Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@ Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.
