House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries warned Republicans and federal law enforcement against sanctioning or arresting three Democratic New Jersey lawmakers who were involved in a tense immigration protest.
“They’ll find out. They’ll find out. They’ll find out,” Jeffries said Tuesday when asked how he’d respond if officials arrested or sanctioned Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman. “That’s a red line. It’s a red line, it’s very clear.”
The three Democrats were inspecting the new ICE facility, which is set to play a major role in White House Northeast immigration operations, and were involved in a scrum when federal agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who authorities said was trespassing.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson on Saturday said arrests for the three lawmakers were “on the table.” Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) has proposed stripping them of committee assignments.
“First of all, I think that the so-called homeland security spokesperson is a joke,” Jeffries said. “It’s a joke. They know better than to go down that road. And it’s been made loudly and abundantly clear to the Trump administration. We’re not going to be intimidated by their tactics to try to force principled opposition from not standing up to their extremism.”