House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., warned the Trump administration against arresting Democrat lawmakers who have been accused of assaulting federal immigration officers at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, New Jersey, calling it a "red line."
"They know better than to go down that road," Jeffries told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, The Hill reported.
Jeffries was responding to Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who told CNN over the weekend that there will "likely be more arrests coming" after Friday's protests led to the arrests of several people, including Newark Democrat Mayor Ras Baraka.
McLaughlin said there is an "ongoing investigation" and that New Jersey Democrat Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver could face arrest for storming the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility.
Jeffries on Tuesday called McLaughlin a "joke," according to The Hill.
"We're not going to be intimidated by their tactics to try to force principled opposition from not standing up to their extremism," Jeffries said, adding, "And so there are clear lines that they just dare not cross."
A bodycam video obtained by the New York Post after release from DHS showed the three Democrats storming the facility.
"Members of Congress and any public official is not above the law," McLaughlin told Newsmax on Tuesday. "You cannot body slam, body ram, shove, strike, or otherwise assault a law enforcement officer. Everything is still on the table. I'll leave that to the Department of Justice, but it is despicable to watch members of Congress assault law enforcement, and we will do everything we can to protect our brave law enforcement who so bravely operate this facility."
As for Baraka, McLaughlin accused the gubernatorial candidate of "a cheap political stunt."
"This mayor, who is running for higher office, wanted his 15 minutes of fame, and he's willing to do it on the backs of our law enforcement officers by trespassing, by storming that facility," McLaughlin told Newsmax.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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