Trump called her ‘woke’ and ‘out of control.’ But N.J. Rep. LaMonica McIver was just doing her job.
After watching and rewatching videos of what happened, I became incensed at the blatant disrespect shown by ICE agents toward the three Black elected officials charged with oversight of Delaney Hall.
Times are really bleak in America right now.
President Donald Trump is waging an all-out war on anyone he considers “woke,” on undocumented immigrants, and on his “enemies” — real or imagined. But I’m holding on to my faith that — as a great man once said — the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice. And I believe it will as long as people like Rep. LaMonica McIver (D., N.J.) are willing to resist.
A lot of people don’t know about the 39-year-old freshman congresswoman from Newark, N.J., and they should. Earlier this year, McIver made national news after she showed up at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in her district in Newark and landed herself in what the late Rep. John Lewis would call “good trouble.”
McIver, along with several other elected officials, was attempting to inspect conditions at Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed facility along an industrial stretch of land near Newark Liberty International Airport in May, and was met with fierce resistance. Video of the very ugly melee that ensued went viral.
Authorities later charged McIver with “forcibly impeding and interfering” with federal officers. She pleaded not guilty.
At first, the case didn’t look good for her, especially after Trump denounced McIver by claiming she was “out of control” and declared that “The days of woke are over.” House Republicans took the rare step of attempting to have her formally censured and to remove her from a committee overseeing immigration and national security.
But instead of marching lockstep along with the rest of their party last week, five brave Republicans broke ranks with their caucus and voted with Democrats to table the measure until after McIver’s legal case is settled.
McIver was as surprised as anyone. “I expected the worst,” she told me over the phone. “Ever since Jan. 20, everything that this administration and Republican-run House and Senate has done has been centered in cruelty and chaos and confusion.”
McIver described herself as being both “shocked” and “grateful.”
She was hardly alone.
I was relieved for her, too. I didn’t know anything about McIver before the Delaney Hall fracas. But after watching and rewatching videos of what happened, I became incensed at the blatant disrespect shown by ICE agents toward three Black elected officials, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested that day.
McIver stands out in the footage because of her bright red blazer and how she appears to be using her body to shield Baraka. Granted, the videos are chaotic and confusing. It’s hard to see exactly who’s doing what to whom. Prosecutors claim McIver slammed her forearm into the body of one law enforcement officer and also “forcibly” grabbed him. They also allege she used her forearms to forcibly strike a second officer. No injuries were reported.
The Washington Post conducted an in-depth review of the footage and found that McIver made contact with at least two agents involved in the skirmish, but concluded that “it is difficult to discern the force of the contact and to what extent it was intentional or the result of the chaotic moment.”
Delaney Hall has been plagued with complaints from detainees about conditions. As a legislator, McIver was doing the job her constituents elected her to do.
“The main reason why we went to Delaney Hall was not to protest; it was to have an oversight visit,” she said. “We had heard so many complaints from different people, from city leaders about this facility not being up to par.”
Before getting elected to Congress, McIver served almost eight years on Newark’s City Council. As council president, she oversaw a body of nine members representing almost 400,000 residents.
“I have never experienced anything like this before coming to Congress,” McIver said. “It’s honestly been just such an unhinged experience.”
McIver is scheduled to go on trial in November. It’s anyone’s guess how that will go. Especially since a federal judge ruled last month that Trump’s former lawyer, Alina Habba, has been unlawfully serving as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.
Lewis used to famously urge justice seekers like McIver to “Get into good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”
The way I see it, that’s what McIver was doing on that May day outside Delaney Hall. She stood up for what was right and landed herself in good trouble. Lewis would be proud — but, before all is said and done, it’s going to take a lot more people doing like McIver did to restore our nation’s battered spirit.