When all else fails, pull the race card.
Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey is facing federal charges for allegedly elbowing and grabbing an ICE agent during a visit to a New Jersey detention center in May.
She decided on Thursday that the best public defense is a tried and true one — to imply that consequences are racist.
Axios reported, the House is expected to vote on a resolution introduced by Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana to censure McIver and remove her from the House Homeland Security Committee.
.@RepClayHiggins (R-LA) reads resolution to censure @RepLaMonica McIver (D-NJ) and remove her from Homeland Security Committee: pic.twitter.com/mZDoDU4gNH
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 23, 2025
That would be the same committee that oversees the very agency she is accused of assaulting.
But instead of showing a shred of accountability, McIver played the victim.
“Clay Higgins is a bigot who wants to be back in the news,” she told Axios in a statement.
A bold strategy, considering Higgins waited until the final day of the House session before the August recess to see if Democrats would hold one of their own accountable.
They didn’t, so now House Republicans are prepared to act.
The three-page resolution said that McIver’s actions “do not reflect creditably on the House” and that her committee assignment presents a “significant conflict of interest.”
Hard to argue with that.
McIver’s defenders claim she’s being singled out.
Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey claimed the resolution to censure targets McIver for performing oversight at a facility “so poorly maintained that an external wall collapsed and four detainees escaped.”
Even if true, that doesn’t justify laying hands on a federal officer.
REMEMBER THIS?! Update: House Republicans are moving to formally punish Dem @. LaMonica McIver after attacking @ICEgov agents while trying to break into a detention facility — and they want her booted from @DHSgov. pic.twitter.com/JtOthoUqfD
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 24, 2025
As CNN noted, McIver pleaded not guilty in June, telling reporters, “They will not intimidate me. They will not stop me from doing my job.”
The indictment was filed by interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, appointed by President Donald Trump.
McIver was joined during the May incident by New Jersey Democratic Reps. Coleman and Rob Menendez Jr., as well as Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested during the scuffle.
But only McIver allegedly assaulted an ICE agent.
Now that she’s under fire, the best McIver can offer is a deflection and to lean on identity politics.
McIver had better come up with a better excuse for her alleged actions than the color of her skin before November, when her assault case goes to trial.
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