DHS Threatens To Arrest Dem Reps For “Storming” NJ ICE Facility, Law Says Reps Can Enter Without Notice

Axios reports:

Democratic members of Congress who were part of a scuffle with law enforcement officers at an ICE facility in New Jersey may face arrests, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Axios.

It would be a major escalation in the Trump administration’s arrests of politicians and other public servants, including the mayor of Newark and a judge in Milwaukee.

DHS is accusing the House Democrats of assaulting law enforcement. The lawmakers say they were the ones who were assaulted. The lawmakers involved in the incident: Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) and LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.).

CNN reports:

Under the annual appropriations act, which allocates funds for federal agencies, lawmakers are permitted to enter “any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens.”

The law is also clear that members of Congress are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility” in their oversight capacity. A spokesperson for Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, one of the lawmakers who was at the facility Friday, said the group had been allowed to enter and inspect the center sometime between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

After the incident, a DHS official suggested charges could be brought against the members of Congress and accused them of breaking into the facility, despite their legal authority to conduct oversight of the department.

There’s more at both links above.

First, the Members of Congress were at the facility conducting an oversight inspection. They are permitted by law to do so (DHS Appropriations Act, 2020, Sec. 532)

Here is ICE guidance that acknowledges that Members can visit for oversight. Unannounced visits happen regularly.… pic.twitter.com/W9y3D6BgmX

— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) May 10, 2025

Today, as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center, a group of protestors, including two members of US Congress, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility. The allegations by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the…

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 9, 2025