Newark

NEWARK, N.J. — U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing her of assaulting and interfering with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center during a congressional oversight visit at the facility.

“They will not intimidate me. They will not stop me from doing my job,” she said outside the courthouse in Newark after the brief hearing.

McIver, a Democrat, was charged by interim U.S. Atty. Alina Habba, a Republican appointed by President Trump, following the May 9 visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility as a detention center.

This month she was indicted on three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials. Two of the counts carry a maximum sentence of up to eight years in prison. The third is a misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of one year in prison.

During Wednesday’s hearing, McIver stood and told U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper: “Your honor, I plead not guilty.” The judge set a Nov. 10 trial date.

Outside the courthouse, McIver warned that anyone who pushes back against the Trump administration will find themselves in a similar position.

McIver’s lawyer, former U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman, said McIver pleaded not guilty because she is not guilty. He said federal agents created a risky situation at Delaney Hall.

A message seeking comment Wednesday was left with Habba’s office.

Among those at McIver’s side Wednesday were her family and elected officials, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was outside the detention center with McIver and other legislators on May 9.

Baraka was also arrested on a trespassing charge that was later dropped and is suing Habba over what he called a malicious prosecution.

Baraka accused the Trump administration of using law enforcement as “an appendage of their ideology to begin to hammer us.”

The indictment of McIver is the latest development in a legal-political drama that has seen the Trump administration take Democratic officials from New Jersey’s largest city to court amid the president’s ongoing immigration crackdown and Democrats’ efforts to respond. The prosecution is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption.

A nearly two-minute video clip released by the Department of Homeland Security shows McIver at the facility inside a chain-link fence just before Baraka’s arrest on other side of the barrier, where other people were protesting. McIver and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor.

The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police.”

It is not clear from police bodycam video if the contact was intentional, incidental or the result of jostling in the chaotic scene.

The complaint alleges that she “slammed” her forearm into an agent and then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him.

The indictment also says she placed her arms around the mayor to try to stop his arrest and says again that she slammed her forearm into and grabbed an agent.

Democrats including New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, who were with McIver at the detention center that day, have criticized the arrest and disputed the charges.

Members of Congress are legally authorized to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill spelling out that authority.

McIver, 39, first came to Congress in September in a special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in the 10th District. She was then elected to a full term in November.

A Newark native, she was president of the Newark City Council from 2022 to 2024 and worked in the city’s public schools before that.

Catalini writes for the Associated Press.

One of the two detainees still missing after escaping from a New Jersey federal immigration detention center has been arrested, the FBI said Tuesday.

Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes, from Honduras, has been taken into custody, FBI spokesperson Amy Thoreson said in an email. Andres Felipe Pineda-Mogollon, from Colombia, is still missing from Thursday night’s escape, the bureau said.

Bautista-Reyes and Pineda-Mogollon and two other men busted out of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark during reports of disorder there by breaking through a wall and escaping from a parking lot, according to U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, and Homeland Security officials.

All four men were in the country illegally and had been charged by local police in New Jersey and New York City, federal officials said.

Bautista-Reyes was charged in May with aggravated assault, attempt to cause bodily injury, terroristic threats and a weapon crime. Pineda-Mogollon, from Colombia, was charged with minor larceny and burglary crimes.

The details surrounding Bautista-Reyes’ capture were not immediately clear. Messages seeking information were sent to the FBI and the Homeland Security Department, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The FBI on Monday had increased the reward for information leading to their arrest to $25,000 from $10,000.

Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez, one of the other fugitives, was taken into custody in Passaic, N.J., on Friday, the day after the escape in nearby Newark. Then, on Sunday, Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada surrendered to federal authorities in Milleville, N.J. Sandoval-Lopez, from Honduras, was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun in October and aggravated assault in February, officials said. Castaneda-Lozada, from Colombia, was charged with burglary, theft and conspiracy, authorities said.

A message seeking comment on behalf of the men was left Tuesday with the New Jersey public defender’s office. It’s unclear who may be representing the men.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat who’s been critical of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, cited reports of a possible uprising and escape after disorder broke out at the facility Thursday night and protesters outside the center locked arms and pushed against barricades as vehicles passed through gates. Much is still unclear about what unfolded there.

But GEO Group, the company that owns and operates the detention facility for the federal government, said in a statement that there was “no widespread unrest” at the facility.

Delaney Hall has been the site of clashes this year between Democratic officials who say the facility needs more oversight and the Trump administration and those who run the facility.

Baraka was arrested May 9, handcuffed and charged with trespassing. The charge was later dropped and U.S. Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was later charged with assaulting federal officers, stemming from a skirmish that happened outside the facility. She has denied the charges.

Catalini writes for the Associated Press.

June 7 (UPI) — Arrivals and departures are limited for the rest of the year at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

The restrictions took effect on Friday and limit arrivals and departures to 28 per hour on weekends while airport construction occurs from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, the Federal Aviation Administration announced on Friday.

Arrivals and departures also are limited to no more than 34 per hour during other periods through Oct. 25.

“The confirmed reduced rates will maintain safety while alleviating excessive flight delays at the airport due to staffing and equipment challenges,” the FAA announcement says.

“The early completion of runway construction at the airport that added to the delays will also contribute to a more efficient operation.”

Similar travel restrictions “paid dividends” by enabling “smooth travel into and out of Newark” over the Memorial Day holiday, according to the FAA.

Officials at the federal agency recently met with airline representatives to discuss problems at the Newark airport that triggered long delays and flight cancellations that left many air passengers stranded for hours and sometimes longer.

The discussions led to the current flight restrictions while undertaking several improvements at the airport and regionally.

The FAA is working to improve operations at the Newark airport by adding three new high-bandwidth telecommunications links between New York-based hubs and the Philadelphia-based terminal radar approach control system for regional air traffic control.

Old copper telecommunications connections will be replaced with fiber-optic technology for greater bandwidth and speed, and a temporary backup system to the Philadelphia-based TRACON system will be active while improvements are done.

The FAA also is increasing air traffic controller staffing by adding 22 fully certified controllers and five fully certified supervisors at the Newark airport and others in the area.

“The U.S. Department of Transportation and the FAA will continue working with all stakeholders to ensure that the airport is a safe, efficient and functional gateway for passengers and air crews,” the FAA announcement says.

June 4 (UPI) — The Democratic mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, has sued the Republican U.S. district attorney of New Jersey over his arrest last month outside of a prison being transformed into a detention facility to hold migrants arrested in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The lawsuit, announced Tuesday, accuses District Attorney Alina Habba and Special Agent in Charge Ricky Patel of the Newark Division of Homeland Security Investigations of violating Baraka’s rights by arresting him without cause, initiating a malicious prosecution and committing defamation.

“They abused their power to violently arrest me at Delaney Hall despite being invited inside,” Baraka said in a statement Tuesday.

“No one is above the law.”

Baraka was arrested on May 9 outside Delaney Hall, a Newark prison owned by GEO Group, which in February signed a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house migrants at the 1,000-bed center for 15 years.

Habba accused Baraka of trespassing at the facility and claimed he was arrested after allegedly “ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center.

“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law,” she said on X following Baraka’s arrest. “That will not stand in this state.”

Habba — formerly a lawyer for President Donald Trump, who appointed her to her current position in New Jersey — announced last month she was dropping the charges against Baraka “for the sake of moving forward.”

According to the lawsuit, Baraka was at the prison at the invitation of Rep. LaMonica McIver, one of three Democratic New Jersey House representatives visiting Delaney Hall that day to inspect it.

Baraka arrived at Delaney Hall at about 1:42 p.m. EDT and spoke with members of the public protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

At 1:50 p.m. a GEO Group guard invited Baraka to enter the inner gate of Delaney Hall, which the mayor did. He waited there for about 40 minutes, apparently for the Democratic lawmakers inside the facility.

According to the lawsuit, Patel confronted Baraka at 2:33 p.m., and told him to leave. Baraka argued he was invited in by the guard, which Patel disputed, the court documents state.

Minutes later, the members of Congress exited the facility after witnessing the confrontation between the two and informed Patel that they had wanted Baraka there.

“After the members of Congress conveyed their thoughts, Defendant Patel threatened to arrest the Mayor,” the lawsuit states. “In response, the Mayor said: ‘I’m leaving now.'”

Baraka was arrested by about 20 DHS agents, some masked, about 5 minutes after he left the GEO Group property, according to the filing.

“Egged on by Defendant Patel, who ordered the DHS agents to ‘take him down’ (meaning violently tackle the Mayor of Newark) the agents pushed, shoved and assaulted the Mayor’s security team and members of Congress before violently pulling Mayor Baraka’s arms and arresting him without probable cause,” the lawsuit states.

“The DHS agents handcuffed the Mayor behind his back in an effort to effect maximum humiliation for what Defendant Habba’s office later admitted was an alleged ‘petty offense.'”

The lawsuit, which is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, also accuses Habba of having a political agenda to forward Trump’s immigration policies and to help Republicans in the state.

When Habba told the court she was ending the prosecution of Baraka, federal Judge Andre Espinosa admonished the district attorney.

“The hasty arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, followed swiftly by the dismissal of the trespassing charges a mere 13 days later, suggests a worrisome misstep by your office,” Espinosa said.

“An arrest, particularly of a public figure, is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action, carrying significant reputational and personal consequences, and it should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate evaluation of credible evidence.”

On Monday, after learning of Baraka’s intention to sue her, Habba retorted: “My advice to the mayor — feel free to join me in prioritizing violent crime and public safety. Far better use of time for the great citizens of New Jersey.”

Habba later last month filed charges of assaulting law enforcement against McIver in connection with Baraka’s arrest.

Baraka has voiced solidarity with McIver, and McIver described the charges against her as “purely political.”

NEWARK, N.J. — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka sued New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor on Tuesday over his arrest on a trespassing charge at a federal immigration detention facility, saying the Trump-appointed attorney had pursued the case out of political spite.

Baraka, who leads New Jersey’s biggest city, is a candidate in a crowded primary field for the Democratic nomination for governor next Tuesday. The lawsuit against interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba coincided with the day early in-person voting began.

The lawsuit seeks damages for “false arrest and malicious prosecution,” and also accuses Habba of defamation for comments she made about his case, which was later dropped.

Citing a post on X in which Habba said Baraka “committed trespass,” the lawsuit says Habba issued a “defamatory statement” and authorized his “false arrest” despite “clear evidence that Mayor Baraka had not committed the petty offense of ‘defiant trespass.’” The suit also names Ricky Patel, the Homeland Security Investigations agent in charge in Newark. Baraka’s attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, said they also expect to sue President Trump’s administration but are required to wait six months.

“This is not about revenge,” Baraka said during a news conference. “Ultimately, I think this is about them taking accountability for what has happened to me.”

Emails seeking comment were left Tuesday with Habba’s office and the Homeland Security Department, where Patel works.

Videos capture chaos outside the detention center

The episode outside the Delaney Hall federal immigration detention center has had dramatic fallout. It began on May 9 when Baraka tried to join three Democratic members of Congress — Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman — who went to the facility for an oversight tour, something authorized under federal law. Baraka, an outspoken critic of Trump’s immigration crackdown and the detention center, was denied entry.

Video from the event showed him walking from the facility side of the fence to the street side, where other people had been protesting. Uniformed officials then came to arrest him. As they did, people could be heard urging the group to protect the mayor. The video shows a crowd forming and pushing as officials led off a handcuffed Baraka.

He was initially charged with trespass, but Habba dropped that charge last month and charged McIver with two counts of assaulting officers stemming from her role in the skirmish at the facility’s gate.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa rebuked Habba’s office after moving to dismiss the charges. “The hasty arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, followed swiftly by the dismissal of these trespassing charges a mere 13 days later, suggests a worrisome misstep by your Office,” he wrote.

McIver decried the charges and signaled she plans to fight them. A preliminary hearing is scheduled later this month.

Baraka said the aftermath of the withdrawn charge meant he had to explain it in the media and argue his case when he had done nothing wrong.

“I want somebody to apologize, write a letter, say this was wrong, come out and say, ‘We shouldn’t have done this,’” he said.

New Jersey targeted over its so-called sanctuary policies

Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed facility, opened earlier this year as a federal immigration detention facility. Florida-based Geo Group Inc., which owns and operates the property, was awarded a 15-year contract valued at $1 billion in February. The announcement was part of the president’s plans to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from a budget of about 41,000 beds this year.

Baraka sued Geo soon after that deal was announced.

Then, on May 23, the Trump Justice Department filed a suit against Newark and three other New Jersey cities over their so-called sanctuary policies. There is no legal definition for sanctuary city policies, but they generally limit cooperation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers.

New Jersey’s attorney general has a statewide directive in place prohibiting local police from collaborating in federal civil immigration matters. The policies are aimed at barring cooperation on civil enforcement matters, not at blocking cooperation on criminal matters. They specifically carve out exceptions for when Immigration and Customs Enforcement supplies police with a judicial criminal warrant. The Justice Department said, though, the cities won’t notify ICE when they’ve made criminal arrests, according to the suit.

It’s unclear whether Baraka’s role in these fights with the White House is affecting his campaign for governor. He’s one of six candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the June 10 election to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

On Tuesday, Baraka explained the timing of the suit as an effort to get the case before the court before it was too late. He described the arrest and fallout as a distraction during the campaign.

“But I also think that us not responding is consent,” he said.

In a video ad in the election’s final weeks, Baraka has embraced a theme his rivals are also pushing: affordability. He says he’ll cut taxes. While some of the images show him standing in front of what appears to be Delaney Hall, he doesn’t mention immigration or the arrest specifically, saying: “I’ll keep Trump out of your homes and out of your lives.”

Trump has endorsed Jack Ciattarelli, one of several Republicans running in the gubernatorial primary. Ciattarelli has said if he’s elected, his first executive order would be to end any sanctuary policies for immigrants in the country illegally.

Catalini writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

Federal prosecutors alleged Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey pushed and grabbed officers while attempting to block the arrest of the Newark, N.J., mayor outside an immigration detention facility, according to charges in court papers unsealed on Tuesday.

In an eight-page complaint, interim U.S. Atty. Alina Habba’s office said McIver was protesting the removal of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka from a congressional tour of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark on May 9.

The complaint says she attempted to stop the arrest of the mayor and pushed into agents for Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She faces two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding an officer.

McIver has denied any wrongdoing and has accused federal agents of escalating the situation by arresting the mayor. She denounced the charge as “purely political” and said prosecutors are distorting her actions in an effort to deter legislative oversight.

Habba had charged Baraka with trespassing after his arrest but dismissed the allegation on Monday when she said in a social media post that she instead was charging the congresswoman.

Prosecuting McIver is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption.

The case instantly taps into a broader and more consequential struggle between a Trump administration engaged in overhauling immigration policy and a Democratic Party scrambling to respond.

Within minutes of Habba’s announcement, McIver’s Democratic colleagues cast the prosecution as an infringement on lawmakers’ official duties to serve their constituents and an effort to silence their opposition to an immigration policy that helped propel the president back into power but now has emerged as a divisive fault line in American political discourse.

Members of Congress are authorized by law to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without advance notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill that spelled out the authority.

A nearly two-minute clip released by the Homeland Security Department shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before the arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence. She and uniformed officials go through the gate and she joins others shouting they should circle the mayor. The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point, her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police” on it.

It isn’t clear from body camera video whether that contact was intentional, incidental or a result of jostling in the chaotic scene.

The complaint says she “slammed” her forearm into an agent and then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him.

Tom Homan, President Trump’s top border advisor, said during an interview on Fox News on Tuesday that “she broke the law and we’re going to hold her accountable.”

“You can’t put hands on an ICE employee,” he said. “We’re not going to tolerate it.”

McIver, 38, first came to Congress in September in a special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in the 10th District. She was then elected to a full term in November. A Newark native, she served as the president of the Newark City Council from 2022 to 2024 and worked in the city’s public schools before that.

House Democratic leaders decried the criminal case against their colleague in a lengthy statement in which they called the charge “extreme, morally bankrupt” and lacking “any basis in law or fact.”

Catalini, Richer and Tucker write for the Associated Press.