A federal judge in New Jersey ruled on Thursday that the Justice Department could proceed with its case against Representative LaMonica McIver, a Democrat accused of assaulting immigration agents outside a privately run jail where thousands of migrants awaiting deportation have been held.
Lawyers for Ms. McIver, who has maintained her innocence, could not be immediately reached for comment. But they had indicated in court papers that they planned to appeal the decision if the judge ruled — as he has — against Ms. McIver’s claim that she was immune from prosecution because she was at the jail to conduct a congressional oversight visit.
In his decision, the judge, Jamel K. Semper of U.S. District Court in New Jersey, also rejected Ms. McIver’s argument that she was being selectively and vindictively prosecuted by President Trump’s Justice Department because she is a Democrat.
Judge Semper concluded that prosecutors were not barred from bringing charges by the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which affords members of Congress broad immunity from criminal penalties stemming from the performance of their legislative duties.
He found that the assault charges were only “incidentally related” to Ms. McIver’s congressional oversight visit to the detention center in Newark, which is known as Delaney Hall.
“Defendant’s presence at Delaney Hall does not grant constitutional protection for every act performed in connection to that visit,” Judge Semper wrote.
The case, and the constitutional questions at its core, offered a stark illustration of the high stakes that have come into play with the Justice Department’s willingness to pursue criminal charges against outspoken critics of Mr. Trump. The indictment against Ms. McIver, who faces up to 16 years in prison, was signed by Alina Habba, the president’s former lawyer, whom he appointed New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.
Ms. Habba could not be immediately reached for comment.
In the months since Ms. McIver’s arrest, the Justice Department has also brought charges against New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, and James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director who is one of the president’s most reviled enemies.
The court’s decision could also have wide-reaching implications for congressional oversight visits, which the Trump administration has since tried to limit and has halted altogether during the government shutdown, a development first reported by Politico.
A spokeswoman for Ms. McIver said the congresswoman and her lawyers were reviewing the judge’s decision and had no immediate comment.
On May 9, Ms. McIver, 39, was with two House colleagues for an unannounced oversight inspection of the detention center in Newark, which has a 15-year contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency worth $1 billion. Video shows that she was involved in a brief but explosive clash with masked immigration agents, who came out from behind the facility’s gates to arrest the city’s mayor, Ras J. Baraka, on trespassing charges.
She is accused of using her forearms to “forcibly strike” an agent during the ensuing scrum, in which she can be seen pushing toward Mr. Baraka as she is also pushed from behind. No one was injured in the 68-second confrontation. She and the two other House members, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, went back inside the detention center to participate in a tour, led by ICE agents, after the alleged assault.
Ms. McIver, the judge wrote, “has not met her burden of establishing that her predominant purpose in physically opposing the mayor’s arrest was to conduct oversight or gather information for a legislative purpose. No genuine legislative purpose was advanced by defendant’s alleged conduct.”
The facility is run by one of America’s largest private prison companies, GEO Group. Mr. Baraka, a Democrat who at the time was running for governor, has argued that the jail was operating without a valid certificate of occupancy.
His concern proved valid: In June, four men escaped through a flimsy wall during unrest over crowding and a scarcity of food and water.
Ten days after the altercation outside the detention facility, Ms. Habba dismissed the trespassing charge against Mr. Baraka. But in the statement in which she announced that she was dropping the case against the mayor, Ms. Habba said she planned to pursue charges against Ms. McIver.
Body-worn camera videos released by the government in preparation for the trial show a top Homeland Security official explaining to agents that Mr. Baraka was being arrested at the direction of the deputy attorney general, who at the time was Todd Blanche.
Ms. McIver’s lawyers had argued that the charges should be dismissed before trial for several reasons, including the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause.
Ms. McIver is one of a handful of politicians across the United States who have publicly opposed Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, only to be charged in clashes with ICE agents.
In a case that is not tied directly to Ms. McIver’s, lawyers for other defendants facing federal charges in New Jersey have argued that Ms. Habba is not legally authorized to serve as the state’s U.S. attorney.
A federal judge in Pennsylvania agreed that the complicated series of maneuvers the Justice Department used to keep her in the job after her 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney had ended were illegal. The government appealed that decision, and a panel of judges from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is now weighing the legal arguments.
Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.
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