Noem: Democratic lawmakers committed ‘felonies’ at ICE facility, calls for censuring

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday accused three Democratic lawmakers from New Jersey of committing “felonies” while visiting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in New Jersey.

Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Robert Menendez and LaMonica McIver were present at the Delaney Hall detention center Friday, where a scuffle with law enforcement ensued and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) was arrested for trespassing.

“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,” Noem said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News.

Noem was not present for the Friday incident. Democrats have accused the administration of lying about what happened.

Watson Coleman posted a video of the group of lawmakers entering the building with escorts while a crowd of people waited outside the gates.

“We will be your eyes and your ears and we will report back to you, mayor,” Watson Coleman told Baraka, who waited outside the gates.

The New Jersey lawmaker said upon leaving that ICE agents had “shoved” her and others.

“Since DHS has been lying about this, allow me to correct the record. This scuffle, during which an ICE agent physically shoved me, occurred AFTER we had entered the Delaney Hall premises,” she wrote in a Friday post on the social platform X. 

“We 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. We were escorted in by guards, because we have lawful oversight authority to be there,” she continued. 

Members of Congress have the legal right to conduct oversight at ICE facilities without prior notice and Watson Coleman said she has already done so twice this year. However, the Trump administration said the lawmakers stormed the building.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin suggested more Democratic lawmakers could face arrests as a result of the incident while GOP Rep. Buddy Carter (Ga.) introduced a Tuesday resolution to strip House members of their committee assignments. 

“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,” McLaughlin said during a Friday CNN appearance.

Officials have not released a video revealing the physical altercation described.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has also criticized the administration over their handling of the incident.

“If anyone’s breaking the law in this situation, it’s not members of Congress, it’s the Department of Homeland Security,” she said in an Instagram video posted Sunday. 

“It’s people like Tom Homan and Secretary Kristi Noem,” she added, referring to President Trump’s border czar.

“You lay a finger on someone, on Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman … or any of the representatives that were there, you lay a finger on them, we are going to have a problem,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “Because the people who are breaking the law are the people not abiding by it.”