Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called for the congressional lawmakers involved in a heated confrontation with law enforcement outside a Newark immigration detention center to be censured.
“What happened last Friday was we had members of Congress assaulting law enforcement officers,” Noem said TUESDAY of the chaotic scene that unfolded last week outside the Delaney Hall Detention Center, during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters.
“They were cooperating with criminals to create criminal acts,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief charged, adding, “This wasn’t oversight. This was committing felonies. This was going out and attacking people who stand up for the rule of law. And it was absolutely horrible.”
Democratic North Jersey Reps. Robert Menendez Jr., LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman “illegally” stormed the private facility that contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold migrants slated for deportation, according to the Trump administration.
The scrum at the gates to the Newark detention center — which Noem claims houses “rapists,” “murderers,” and members of “foreign terrorist organizations” — resulted in the arrest of Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for allegedly trespassing on the facility.
“I just don’t understand what their point is,” Noem said of the lawmakers involved. “They have completely lost their minds.”
The DHS secretary stopped short of demanding that New Jersey Democrats face criminal charges, noting that it will be “up to the Department of Justice” to determine if more arrests are necessary.
Noem, however, called for the Democratic trio to be formally rebuked by the House of Representatives and stripped of their committee assignments.
“It’s astounding to me that someone would even vote for someone to put them in a place of leadership when they perpetuate something as hypocritical and as criminal as what these individuals did,” the former South Dakota governor said on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“I hope that the rest of the members of the House of Representatives will hold them accountable,” Noem continued. “They shouldn’t be allowed to be on the committees that they’re on — in fact, one of them is supposed to be conducting oversight over ICE and instead she’s assaulting them.”
The DHS secretary was referring to McIver, who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee.
“They don’t deserve to be in the House,” Noem added. “They should be censured by it.”
Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) announced that he would introduce a resolution to boot McIver, Menendez Jr. and Watson Coleman from their congressional panel assignments.
Watson Coleman and Menendez Jr., respectively, serve on the House Appropriations Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The politicians involved have blamed the ICE agents for escalating the situation.
“Since DHS has been lying about this, allow me to correct the record,” Watson Coleman wrote on X last week, claiming that she and her colleagues “entered the facility, came BACK OUT to speak to the Mayor, and then ICE agents began shoving us.”
“This is not how we entered the facility,” she added, sharing a video of the scrum. “We were escorted in by guards, because we have lawful oversight authority to be there.”
Menendez Jr., speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, blamed federal immigration authorities..
“There were so many instances where this could’ve all been de-escalated, but it was squarely in [Homeland Security Investigations], ICE’s court — they chose not to,” Menendez Jr., said. “They made this a violent scene that we were unfortunately all a part of.”
McIver argued in an X post that “none of this had to happen.”
“We arrived at Delaney Hall to do our jobs — period,” she wrote. “Instead of facilitating congressional oversight, as they are obligated to do, ICE created chaos.”
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