What happened during the next two hours is the subject of a pending criminal case. A group of ice agents came out through the front gate and began arresting Baraka for trespassing. McIver and Watson Coleman tried to stand between Baraka and the agents. “You’re touching a federal official,” McIver warned them. “Don’t touch us.” The agents ignored her and pressed in. There was shoving and jostling. The government later claimed that McIver, in trying to shield Baraka, “grabbed” and “slammed” one of the agents.

Baraka was eventually driven off in handcuffs and held for five hours before being released. Ten days later, Alina Habba, the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, announced on X that the charges against him were being dropped. But, she wrote, “the dismissal against the mayor is not the end of this matter.” The second half of her statement addressed McIver. She was being charged with three felony counts of assaulting federal agents. If convicted, she faces seventeen years in prison.

I don’t see this case getting any traction, but we’ll see what kangaroo court they put her in front of. They probably don’t even care if the charges stick, they just want lawmakers scared like the rest of us peons.