Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called out members of Congress for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers during a heated altercation outside a Newark immigration detention center last Friday. (Secretary Noem X)
DEM LAWMAKERS DEFEND ‘STORMING’ OF ICE FACILITY, SAY TRUMP ADMIN IS ‘LYING AT ALL LEVELS’
U.S. Reps. Rob Menendez Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver – all New Jersey Democrats – stormed ICE's Delaney Hall detention facility’s gate in Newark on Friday, demanding they be allowed to conduct an "oversight visit."
"These members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk," a DHS statement to Fox News said. "Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility."
Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman are being targeted in a new House GOP resolution (Getty Images)
She called for the trio to be censured and formally rebuked by the House of Representatives.
"It’s astounding to me that someone would even vote for someone to put them in a place of leadership when they perpetuate something as hypocritical and as criminal as what these individuals did," she said.
"I hope that the rest of the members of the House of Representatives will hold them accountable," Noem continued. "They shouldn’t be allowed to be on the committees that they’re on — in fact, one of them (McIver) is supposed to be conducting oversight over ICE and instead she’s assaulting them."
"They don’t deserve to be in the House," Noem added. "They should be censured by it."
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., accused an ICE agent of shoving her during the incident. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Take Back the Court Action Fund)
In a press conference earlier, Coleman denied the accusations that they were trying to illegally enter the facility and claimed that ICE was "out of control." McIver said the three lawmakers had waited more than two hours to gain access to the facility to conduct an oversight visit. She said all three of them were also assaulted by ICE personnel.
"There are people who are supposed to be officers, who are supposed to protect us, and they have done none of that," McIver told reporters. "If they can treat three members of Congress like that, just imagine how they can treat people on the street each and every day, both undocumented and people who are citizens here in this country."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
McIver doubled down in a post on X, saying that "none of this had to happen."
"We arrived at Delaney Hall to do our jobs — period," she wrote. "Instead of facilitating congressional oversight, as they are obligated to do, ICE created chaos."
Fox News' Bill Melugin and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-chief-noem-accuses-lawmakers-committing-felonies-newark-ice-facility-they-should-censured