Pregnant Democrat, 40, facing federal assault charges appears in court with desperate plea

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 16:31, 24 June 2026 | Updated: 16:32, 24 June 2026 A Democratic member of Congress has argued for over a year that she did nothing wrong during a clash with federal law enforcement at an immigration facility last summer. On Wednesday, she will make that claim in court.  LaMonica McIver, now 40, and pregnant with her second child, is set to appear in federal court on charges that she did 'forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, and interfere with' a federal law enforcement agent who was carrying out his duties, per her indictment last year. McIver, who also currently has a 9-year-old daughter, could face as long as 17 years if convicted. During a visit she conducted with fellow lawmakers at New Jersey's Delaney Hall immigration facility last May, McIver was caught on video in a clash with law enforcement officials. She has asked for the charges to be dismissed, and has pleaded not guilty to three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding, and interfering with federal officials related to actions in the ICE facility skirmish. She was also saved from a career-shaming embarrassment by seven of her Republican colleagues, who decided not to censure her in the House of Representatives after she was charged the previous year. 'If House Republicans think they can make me run scared, they're wrong,' McIver noted in a statement issued before the vote.    LaMonica McIver speaks onstage at the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture on July 5th, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana Congresswoman McIver exits the grounds at Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility, May 9th 2025, in Newark, New Jersey The seven GOP defections served as a rare break from the party line.   After the attempt to censure her failed, McIver posted on X that the move 'was a baseless, partisan effort to shut [her] up. 'I was not elected to play political games—I was elected to serve. I won't back down. Not now. Not ever,' McIver added. McIver, a first-term member of Congress who is currently seeking reelection in the 2026 midterms, has made a name for herself thanks to her frequent criticism of President Donald Trump and his allies.  In an interview with Democratic super lawyer Marc Elias, McIver noted last year that Trump wants to send 'the military on the very people that they're supposed to be protecting in these cities and then expect a certain response so that it can escalate — I truly believe that that's what the president hopes for,' McIver told Elias. She was equally defiant during a town hall event in Newark last week. 'Trump and his administration want us scared and silent,' McIver stated during a congressional hearing at Newark's City Hall. 'They want to whitewash our streets. They want to step on the vulnerable. They want to criminalize oversight and lock me up,' she added. McIver won her primary election for New Jersey's 10th congressional district earlier this month, and is on the ballot for the general election in November. Her seat is rated as a 'Solid Democrat' district by the Cook Political Report, meaning she will likely be reelected this year. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.