August 17, 2025

New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver is one of the main targets in Trump’s weaponization of government — in May, she faced aggressive intimidation and federal charges simply for inspecting an ICE detention facility in her district. I sat down with her to talk about what happened that day, the political retaliation she’s facing and why she’s standing her ground.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Marc: Welcome, Congresswoman McIver, to Defending Democracy.

Rep. LaMonica McIver: Hey, Marc, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure for me to be on.

Marc: I have really wanted to have you on because we hear so much about the weaponization of government. It's something I talk a lot about, and every time I talk about it, your name comes up because you are one of the main targets in this weaponization of government. And you are one of the great heroes in the fight for it. So I want to thank you at the outset for having the courage to do what you've done and to be on today.

Let's start with sort of how you got tangled up in the Donald Trump web of retribution. You were doing your duty as a member of Congress, which is to conduct oversight into ICE facilities. As I understand it, this is actually a law that Congress put in place precisely because the public don't have visibility into what is happening to people who are being detained. Members of Congress can appear at any ICE facility, which is detaining migrants, and do an inspection. So tell us a little bit about what that law is, what the center is that you were trying to visit, and why that's important.

Rep. LaMonica McIver: Absolutely right, Marc. You broke it down. Congress has the right to go to any ICE detention facility. This is literally in legislation and policy, a statutory right to go and perform oversight of these ICE detention centers. So I was simply there just...