AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

As we’ve reported, on Friday, these agents arrested the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, on trespassing charges, after he joined a congressional delegation to inspect a privately run immigration jail in Newark.

The Department of Homeland Security has also threatened to arrest the three Democratic lawmakers who visited the ICE jail: LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman. They accuse them of assaulting ICE officers. This is DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin on CNN Saturday.

TRICIA McLAUGHLIN: There will likely be more arrests coming. We actually have body-camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body-slamming a female ICE officer. So, we will be showing that to viewers very shortly.

VICTOR BLACKWELL: You say a video — 

TRICIA McLAUGHLIN: The American people should know the facts.

VICTOR BLACKWELL: — of members of Congress body-slamming ICE — 

TRICIA McLAUGHLIN: That’s correct.

VICTOR BLACKWELL: — officials?

TRICIA McLAUGHLIN: That’s correct, sir. It’s disgusting.

VICTOR BLACKWELL: OK. And so, if you have that video, are you suggesting that members of Congress will be arrested who were there yesterday?

TRICIA McLAUGHLIN: This is an ongoing investigation, and that is definitely on the table.

AMY GOODMAN: Those arrests could apparently come at any time.

Congressmember Bonnie Watson Coleman denied McLaughlin’s allegations, writing, “The notion that I or any of my colleagues 'body slammed' armed federal officers is absurd. DHS is lying because they know their agents were out of line,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, Congressmember Rob Menendez issued a statement: quote, “As Members of Congress, we have a legal right to conduct oversight at any DHS facility without prior notice, as we have already done twice this year. Throughout every step of this visit, ICE attempted to intimidate everyone involved and impede our ability to conduct oversight. This is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I am shocked and disturbed that something like this happened in our community,” Menendez said.

For more, we are joined by Democratic New Jersey Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman. Coleman is an 80-year-old cancer survivor. She was out on Friday along with fellow Congressmembers McIver and Menendez. And when Mayor Baraka was being arrested, they were trying to shield him.

New Jersey Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, welcome back to Democracy Now! If you can respond to what the DHS spokesperson said, calling your actions, the actions of the delegation, “disgusting”?

REP. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN: Thank you very much for having me.

We were there for reasons that are permitted under law, to conduct this inspection or oversight inspection of the facility. We were delayed and delayed and delayed, and there was one excuse after another. Finally, everyone showed up from the Newark offices of ICE. We thought now we were going to start the tour. That didn’t happen.

We went outside, because we understood the mayor was there, and these ICE officials were going down to meet him. We were there when they asked him to leave. He turned around, walked away, walked behind the gate and went on public property. We thought now we were going to proceed to go to do our tour.

We saw ICE members huddling together on the phone. And the next thing we heard was “We’re going to arrest the mayor. We’re going to lock him up.” And we asked, “Well, why? He’s on public property. You asked him to leave. He left.” There was no issue with his leaving.

And so, when they opened the gate, they rushed upon him with several officers, maybe 20 or so, and LaMonica and Rob and I tried to shield the mayor. We tried to stand between them and the mayor, hoping that this thing would not escalate. At the same time, we were saying, “Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? He hasn’t done anything.” And then you saw the chaos after that.

AMY GOODMAN: You know, it’s interesting. They said, Department of Homeland Security, they’re releasing the footage. They released it. They said it would show the body-slamming. We don’t see any such thing in the video they released. You’re now calling for the full video to be released?

REP. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN: Looking for the full video to be released and anyone else that was filming from their own personal cameras and other cameras while we were there. There was no body-slamming. The Department of Homeland Security or the representatives from the administration are doing what they do consistently, and that is to lie and to deflect and to try to create legitimacy for illegitimate things that they are doing. And so, we need people to see this.

This is a very scary moment in our governance and our towns across the nation. And we’re very concerned about other folks just trying to go about their lives and being accosted and being held and being — disappearing under this administration. This is very un-American, and this is just very scary.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, Congressmember Bonnie Watson Coleman, you actually got to tour the facility after — 

REP. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: — after Baraka was arrested. Number one, I was wondering if you saw him in a cell. But, number two, can you tell us what you and Menendez and McIver, the three congressmembers, the three of you, saw inside?

REP. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN: So, we toured the facilities. We toured the area where they were holding people, the area where you would eat, the area where you cook, some of the bathroom facilities, the medical area. The place is not as clean as it could be, but relatively so. They’re staffing up now, and they’re waiting for ICE to approve the new individuals to come in. So there were things like dirt balls on the floor.

We went into the elevator to go up to the second floor. We had a hard time getting on the elevator with the person who’s the director of the facility. When we wanted to leave the second floor, we got onto the elevator, and the elevator wouldn’t move. So, one of the complaints and concerns, the safety and security of the elevators, and that’s one of the issues that’s been under inspection.

But we did conduct it. We talked to several of the women who were there. There were five women, I believe, all of whom were confused. They hadn’t had a chance to talk to their lawyers or their families. They didn’t know what was going to happen next. They were being fed. They were not being treated poorly by the staff. But the staff was minimal in the facility. But, clearly, these were women from Honduras, Venezuela and another place that I can’t remember, who were just really concerned about what was going to happen to them next.

AMY GOODMAN: New Jersey Congressmember Bonnie Watson Coleman, you are 80 years old. You’re a cancer survivor. You’ve publicly talked about what that battle was all about. And the last video that you just put out is about what’s happening today in Congress. It’s about the Republican leadership attempting to cut something like $800 billion from Medicaid. I’m wondering if you can comment on what’s taking place now in Congress.

REP. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN: Well, we’re going have a series of hearings this week, actually, on the president’s so-called skinny budget. But there is $880 billion in directions to cut out of Energy and Commerce, and 75% of that money goes to Medicaid that goes to the states to take care of people who are in nursing homes, have disabilities, need healthcare in some form or another, and meet certain other socioeconomic eligibilities. It also covers children, the children’s healthcare program. If you’re going to cut $880 billion out of a budget, when 75% of that budget goes to that purpose, then you’re going to end up cutting lifesaving Medicaid help to those who are in nursing homes, to the elderly, to the disabled, etc.

And Republicans keep lying to us about — or, lying to the country — because they can’t lie to us; we see the facts — that they’re not going to cut Medicaid. But if they find money anywhere, it’s going to be as the result of cutting very vulnerable programs, from healthcare to education to nutrition programs to housing programs to public education, so that they can find billions of dollars to give to wealthy donors, wealthy businesses and wealthy people who have been very supportive of this administration, including the owners of the Delaney Hall, who are a major contributor to Donald Trump. This is a corrupt administration. This is an administration that lies every day. This is an administration that is wreaking havoc in our communities, in our economy, and scaring the dickens out of people.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Coleman is on — a member of the House Budget and Appropriations Committee. Before you go, we spoke to you earlier this year when you attended President Trump’s address to Congress with a guest, Dr. Adam Hamawy, a reconstructive surgeon and Army veteran who had recently volunteered in Gaza, also provided lifesaving care to now-Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois when she was wounded in the Iraq War in 2004, had her legs blown off. President Trump didn’t address the devastation in Gaza during his address, but promised to bring peace and prosperity to the region. In a moment, we’re going to go to a Palestinian accidental war correspondent from Gaza, suffered from malnutrition. Ireland just gave him a scholarship. We’ll speak to him in Dublin. But I’m wondering your thoughts as the new pope, Pope Leo XIV, just called for a ceasefire in Gaza, and what President Trump has talked about will happen to Gaza and his support for Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel.

REP. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN: Well, let me say that if the president gets his way with Gaza, it will become some high-level spa for people to come, and it will displace all of the people who have a right to live there. And Netanyahu is continuing this war, because, just like the president, he has a very corrupt environment. He has to face the courts at some point. But if he keeps the war going, then he’s not going to have to face a court and then be answerable for his corruption.

We need to understand the inhumane conditions in Gaza. We need to understand that there needs to be a ceasefire. There needs to be a rebuilding. There needs to be the opportunity for Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side in safety, security and prosperity. And we need to teach the younger generations of Palestinians and Israelis not to hate one another because they look different or because they pray differently.

It is inhumane, what we’ve seen with the devastation of Gaza. Seventy-five to 80% of the infrastructure is gone. Dr. Hamawy has lost colleagues that he worked with in the hospitals who were trying to bring healthcare and life safety services to those people under these conditions. He is an amazing human being.

We must end this war. The United States of America cannot continue to weaponize Israel against Gaza. We need to bring the hostages home. Of course, we need to eliminate the threat of Hamas. But we need to do that without trying to displace all of the Palestinians, the innocent children, elderly people, men and women, who simply want to live in peace and have prosperity.

AMY GOODMAN: New Jersey Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, I want to thank you for being with us.

When we come back, we go to Dublin, Ireland, to speak with Abubaker Abed, the 22-year-old Palestinian accidental war correspondent. We last spoke to him in Gaza, suffering from malnutrition. He’s now in Ireland with a scholarship to study as he heals. Stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: “Sowa” by Fatoumata Diawara in our Democracy Now! studio.