CNN
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The battle over immigration came to a dramatic head Friday afternoon when Democratic lawmakers faced off with Homeland Security Department officers as they tried to visit a Newark, New Jersey, Immigration Customs and Enforcement facility, despite Congress’ oversight authority of federal facilities.
Three members of Congress from New Jersey, along with protesters, faced off with Department of Homeland Security officers on Friday after visiting a local ICE detention facility. The incident started as officers attempted to arrest the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, after he tried to join the lawmakers inside the facility.
As tensions grew, so did the physicality of the situation, with officers and lawmakers pushing and shouting at one another before Baraka, a Democrat, was ultimately detained for several hours. He was released Friday evening.
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.
DHS in a statement accused the lawmakers of being “holed up in a guard shack” after having “stormed the gate” to break “into the detention facility.”
“Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the statement. “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities.”
Watson Coleman, who was at the facility Friday, forcefully pushed back on the allegation that the members had broken into the facility, saying in a statement that afternoon “we did not ‘storm’ the detention center.”
“The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn’t even correctly count the number of Representatives present,” the congresswoman said.
During an appearance on CNN’s “First of All” Saturday morning, McLaughlin said ICE has footage that could lead to arrests of lawmakers. “There will likely be more arrests coming. We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer. So we will be showing that to viewers very shortly,” she said.
When pressed by CNN’s Victor Blackwell on whether she was suggesting the members of Congress would be arrested, McLaughlin said, “this is an ongoing investigation and that is definitely on the table.”
The videos were later released by the department and show the arrest of Baraka, along with more angles of the physical altercations between federal agents, protesters and members of Congress.
One video appears to show Rep. LaMonica McIver using her body to push past federal agents to follow Baraka after he was placed in handcuffs and moved behind the chain-linked fence.
Baraka, to whom the appropriations law doesn’t apply, was held for a few hours before being released. It remains unclear why he was detained outside of the fenced-in area around the facility after he had already left the detention center.
“I didn’t go there to break any laws. I didn’t break any laws,” Baraka told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday shortly after being released. “I was there as the mayor of the city, exercising my right and duty as an elected official, you know, supporting our congresspeople preparing for a press conference that was supposed to happen there.”
DHS has doubled down on its response to the incident, writing in one social media post: “Just because the border is secure doesn’t mean you can find new walls to climb over guys.”
CNN’s Shania Shelton contributed to this report.
