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Earlier on Friday, a group of New Jersey Democrat representatives and the mayor of Newark, NJ, were taking part in a protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Newark when, as my colleague Ward Clark wrote, things went completely sideways:
Reps. Rob Menendez Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver, all New Jersey Democrats, entered ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark and were held up inside the first checkpoint, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News.
“These members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk,” a DHS statement to Fox News said. “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility. This is an evolving situation.”
Here’s the fun bit:
The prison currently holds alleged killers, MS-13 gang members, child rapists, among other criminal offenders.
The lawmakers were outside the facility with a group of protesters when the gates opened to allow an ICE bus in. The lawmakers then rushed through the gates and past security, DHS said.
Clark added that the mayor of Newark,