House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) threatened to expel Democratic lawmakers who confronted immigration enforcement officers at a New Jersey facility.
The Department of Homeland Security alleges that three Democratic representatives from New Jersey – Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez – "stormed" the Delany Hall facility where Immigration and Customs Enforcement intends to house detained migrants, and Johnson said GOP leadership was considering options to punish them.
"There's three possible disciplinary actions that Congress, the House, could take," Johnson said. "Okay, you can censure a member, and that probably does seem appropriate here. You can kick them off committees. That's a new tradition begun by the Democrats in recent years, and you can expel someone from Congress."
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DHS secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News host Jesse Watters the trio "don't deserve to be in the House" and should be censured, while DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the lawmakers could be arrested, and Johnson agreed that was an option – along with expulsion.
"Now, expulsion requires a two-thirds vote, [and] that's not likely because the margins are small on both sides, but we're looking at what is appropriate," Johnson said. "Look, I think it's pretty clear the law was violated. You might've noticed the Wisconsin judge that was trying to conceal the illegal alien that was going to be apprehended by ICE. A federal grand jury indicted the judge, I think that was late yesterday, and I'm told that she'll be brought up on charges, maybe facing potentially six years in jail and $350,000 in fines because she obstructed the proceedings, obstructed justice, and was engaged in other activities."
A federal grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday against Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge Hannah Dugan for falsely telling ICE agents they needed a judicial warrant to conduct their operation and allegedly directing an undocumented migrant and his lawyer through a side door to evade the agents.
"So, look, what these House Democrats did is in that same lane, the same vein, as what the judge is being indicted for," Johnson said, "so I think there's some legal ramifications to play out here, and we'll see how it works."
