Spin Cycle: The Democrats Went Down To Newark …

Three House Democrats — all from New Jersey — and the Mayor of Newark descended on Delaney Hall on Friday, demanding access to and oversight of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center that is being used to house criminal illegal aliens. What followed was a “they said – they said” scenario involving the Department of Homeland Security and the Democrats — and some of it played out on the Sunday morning political talk shows.

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.

The protest that took place on Friday — according to Newark’s Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka and Garden State Democratic Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson-Coleman, and Rob Menendez — was simply several members of Congress exercising their oversight authority. Watson-Coleman told CNN on Saturday that the group was simply waiting for “a tour” of the facility, the obvious implication being that the tour had been prearranged.

Mayor Baraka, who is currently campaigning to be New Jersey’s next governor, has been protesting Delaney Hall’s existence since the beginning. During the week prior to the protest, city workers parked a bulldozer in front of the gate in order to block access to the facility. Baraka was arrested during the protest and detained by ICE agents.

The Department of Homeland Security offered an entirely different take on the incident: initial reports stated that the New Jersey Democrats had been part of a protest group that waited outside the gates until they were opened for a vehicle transporting detainees – at which point they rushed past security and onto the property. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that if they had requested a tour rather than simply staging a protest outside the gate, one would have been arranged.

On CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) addressed reports that ICE could potentially arrest the three Democratic representatives who had been involved in the protests as well.

After ICE threatened to arrest three Democratic members of Congress following a protest in Newark, New Jersey, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) says any such arrests would “be a very drastic move.”

“I would only do that if they were complicit with a crime,” he says. pic.twitter.com/N1Qa6fOGHJ

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 11, 2025

McCaul said that ICE arresting the members of Congress would be a “very drastic move,” adding, “I would only do that if they were complicit with a crime.”

“I don’t know all the facts behind this,” he continued. “If they were just visiting a detention center, that’s — I’ve done that many times. If they were disrupting law enforcement, that’s another question. We can peacefully protest in this country, but you cannot be complicit with gang violence against our law enforcement, and I think perhaps that’s what it comes down to.”

Anchor Dana Bash also brought up the incident during Sunday’s broadcast of “State of the Union” — and she brought in the three New Jersey Democrats to weigh in on what had happened.

.@RepBonnie on clash with ICE outside Newark detention facility: “Chaos ensued when someone on the phone above the leaders of ICE who were with us at that facility instructed them to go out of the facility, go to the private property and lock the mayor of the largest city in the… pic.twitter.com/EEqEYmukMp

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) May 11, 2025

“Chaos ensued when someone on the phone above the leaders of ICE who were with us at that facility instructed them to go out of the facility, go to the private property, and lock the mayor of the largest city in the state of New Jersey up. That’s absurd. That’s un-American. That’s scary. That’s determination to intimidate people in this country,” Rep. Watson-Coleman said.

During a previous CNN interview on Saturday, Watson-Coleman had claimed that DHS officials were “lying” when they accused the Democrats and protesters of getting rough with ICE agents, and said that any body cam footage that showed such actions would have to be “manufactured.

Responding to DHS accusing her of “body slamming” an ICE officer, @RepLaMonica tells @DanaBashCNN, “I honestly do not know how to body slam anyone. There’s no video that supports me body slamming anyone.”@RepMenendez says, “There were a lot of opportunities for DHS, for ICE to… pic.twitter.com/Fhfpq06jHq

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) May 11, 2025

Rep. McIver responded to DHS reports that she had “body-slammed” an ICE agent during the scuffle, saying, “I honestly do not know how to body slam anyone. There’s no video that supports me body slamming anyone.”

Menendez then claimed that ICE agents had intentionally escalated the situation, adding, “There were a lot of opportunities for DHS, for ICE to de-escalate the situation. They chose not to… It’s something that should really shock all Americans.”

Later on in the broadcast, Bash brought in a panel to discuss the situation — and the possibility that the three Democratic Reps. could face arrest.

.@RepSuhas on DHS threatening to arrest members of Congress: “If I’m going to be put behind bars for trying to stand up for the constitutional rights of my constituents, for standing up for civil liberties, bring it on.”@KSoltisAnderson, @BradOnMessage and @XochitlHinojosa join… pic.twitter.com/IhnQI47pJe

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) May 11, 2025