U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) has come to the defense of U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) after she was charged with assaulting a federal agent during an intense confrontation in front of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility earlier this month.
McIver and other Democrat lawmakers gathered outside the Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey on May 9, demanding to be let in “to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees,” McIver said in a statement.
She blamed ICE agents for creating “an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation” when they arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was also protesting at the facility. Video of the incident appears to show McIver allegedly impeding ICE agents and hitting or shoving at least one officer while the crowd attempts to breach the facility's gate.
McIver said the charges against her were “purely political…meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight.” Sewell agreed, saying she would “stand by” McIver as she fights the “baseless” charges.
“As the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, I take seriously Congress’s constitutional mandate to conduct lawful oversight,” Sewell said. “The baseless charges against Congresswoman McIver are a transparent attempt to intimidate Members from holding this administration accountable. I stand by Congresswoman McIver and will continue to do my job to check lawless uses of executive power and protect our constitutional system.”
Sewell was nearly as quick to defend McIver and the chaos at Delany Hall as she was to condemn protesters who gathered at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
Over 1,500 people, including journalists and people who never entered the Capitol, were arrested in connection with the January 6 protest. Many critics of those arrests, including U.S. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn), said the prosecutions were "politically motivated," directed by the Biden administration's "corrupt" January 6 Committee.
A week after the protest, Sewell spoke from the House floor, calling Trump a “violent insurrectionist” and saying there was “Blood on this House” for the “death of five Americans,” though the only death that day was of Ashleigh Babbitt, a Trump supporter shot by Capitol police. Babbitt's family recently received a $5 million payout for wrongful death, The Daily Wire reported.
Sewell also criticized then-U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) for their “actions and comments” before the protest.
“Their words and actions matter. Their complicity in inciting the vicious attack on our democracy must not go unchecked,” she said.
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