President Donald Trump's interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, announced on Monday that she would dismiss trespassing charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka — but that she would instead file more serious charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ).
Baraka, who is running for governor of the state, had been charged after he joined in a protest with McIver and several other lawmakers at Delaney Hall, a private, for-profit detention facility that has become Immigration and Customs Enforcement's biggest lockup center in the Northeast, despite state laws prohibiting such a facility from operating there.
"After extensive consideration, we have agreed to dismiss Mayor Baraka's misdemeanor charge of trespass for the sake of moving forward," Habba said in a news release. "In the spirit of public interest, I have invited the mayor to tour Delaney Hall. The government has nothing to hide at this facility, and I will personally accompany the mayor so he can see that firsthand."
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However, she continued, she will prosecute McIver for assaulting, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement.
"That conduct cannot be overlooked by the chief federal law enforcement official in the State of New Jersey, and it is my Constitutional obligation to ensure that our federal law enforcement is protected when executing their duties," wrote Habba. "I have persistently made efforts to address these issues without bringing criminal charges and have given Representative McIver every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she has unfortunately declined."
In a statement, McIver called the charges politically motivated and an effort to impede congressional oversight.
"We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short," wrote McIver. "This administration will never stop me from working for the people in our district and standing up for what is right. I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received and I look forward to the truth being laid out clearly in court."
Further complicating the issue, legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted on X that the charges Habba has supposedly filed against McIver are not currently available on the public docket.