Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN’s Victor Blackwell Saturday that the Trump administration could arrest House Democrats who participated in a protest outside an ICE detention center in New Jersey, something that “put law enforcement at risk and this actually put the detainees as well at risk.”
McLaughlin opened the interview on Blackwell’s “First of All” program with her take on the day’s events. “What happened was that these members of Congress, including the mayor as well a mob of protesters, was there was a bus full of detainees going through the gate,” she said. “They stormed the gate and actually entered the first security checkpoint.”
“This put law enforcement at risk, and this actually put the detainees as well at risk,” McLaughlin continued. “If any official, including these members of Congress, want to enter the facility and take a tour, DHS is more than accommodating, but just because you’re a member of Congress does not mean you can break the law, trespass, put law enforcement at risk, and storm the detention facility.”
In addition to Newark, New Jersey, Major Ras Baraka, who was arrested at the protest, McLaughlin claimed New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver were all present.
Elsewhere in the interview, McLaughlin said “multiple” people were arrested, and, “I think that we should let viewers know 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,” McLaughlin added.
McLaughlin shared footage Saturday from the X account Trump War Room that purportedly shows Rep. McIver pushing an ICE agent. On Friday, McIver said in a press conference she was “assaulted by multiple ICE officers while regional directors of ICE watched it happen. Nobody offered an apology or said anything to me about what occurred out here.”
McLaughlin’s claims sparked pushback from Coleman’s office. “Threatening to arrest Members of Congress for exercising their lawful oversight authority is another example of this administration abusing its power to try to intimidate anyone to stands up to them,” a representative for the Congresswoman said in a statement, Axios reported.
