Rep. LaMonica McIver to appeal all the charges against her, citing congressional immunity clause

Source: Politico

01/20/2026 03:56 PM EST


Rep. LaMonica McIver, the New Jersey Democrat who is being prosecuted by the Trump administration, is expected to appeal all the charges against her on Tuesday and argue she is shielded from prosecution by the Constitution.

McIver, a first-term Democrat, was charged with assaulting law enforcement officers following a chaotic scrum outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in New Jersey in May. She and two other New Jersey Democrats — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez — were there to do an oversight visit. They were not charged.

McIver, who is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, argues she is shielded from the charges by the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which grants members of Congress a form of immunity that is mostly impenetrable in investigations relating to the official duties of lawmakers.

“Legislative immunity doesn’t put members of Congress above the law, it protects the public’s right to have a voice — especially when that voice challenges power,” McIver said in a statement to POLITICO. “What happens here matters far beyond what happens in this one case. So I can’t, and won’t, back down — that’s what this appeal is about.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/20/rep-lamonica-mciver-to-appeal-all-the-charges-against-her-citing-congressional-immunity-clause-00737494