raeme Sloan / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
House Speaker Mike Johnson has suggested disciplinary action including possible expulsion against three Democratic lawmakers who reportedly confronted immigration officers at a detention facility in New Jersey.
The incident took place at the Delany Hall facility, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intends to house detained migrants. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Rob Menendez “stormed” the site. Johnson (R-LA) said Republican leadership is reviewing how to respond.
“There’s three possible disciplinary actions that Congress, the House, could take,” Johnson said. “Okay, you can censure a member, and that probably does seem appropriate here. You can kick them off committees. That’s a new tradition begun by the Democrats in recent years, and you can expel someone from Congress.”
Johnson noted that expulsion would require a two-thirds vote in the House, which is unlikely given the narrow party margins. Still, he emphasized that leadership is weighing what course of action would be “appropriate.”
DHS secretary Kristi Noem also chimed in during an interview on Fox News, saying the Democratic representatives “don’t deserve to be in the House” and should face censure. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin went further, suggesting that the lawmakers could potentially face arrest a possibility Johnson acknowledged.
“Look, I think it’s pretty clear the law was violated,” Johnson said, referencing a recent case involving Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan. A federal grand jury indicted Dugan for allegedly obstructing ICE agents by falsely telling them a judicial warrant was required and then allegedly directing a migrant and his lawyer out a side door to avoid apprehension.
Johnson drew a comparison between that case and the New Jersey incident.
“So, look, what these House Democrats did is in that same lane, the same vein, as what the judge is being indicted for,” he said. “So I think there’s some legal ramifications to play out here, and we’ll see how it works.”
The three New Jersey Democrats have not publicly responded to Johnson’s statements, and it remains unclear what action, if any, House Republicans will take in the coming days.
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