US Charges Congresswoman With Assault, Drops Case Against Baraka

The US Justice Department charged a Democratic House lawmaker from Newark, New Jersey, with assault after a confrontation with US immigration officers, while dropping a trespassing charge against the mayor arising from the same incident.

Alina Habba, the interim US attorney for New Jersey, said Monday that US Representative LaMonica McIver assaulted and interfered with law enforcement outside the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall detention facility on May 9 in Newark. Habba dropped the misdemeanor trespassing charge against Mayor Ras Baraka, whose arrest triggered a flurry of shoving outside the building.