Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) sharply questioned Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons during a House hearing Tuesday, at one point asking whether he believed he was “going to hell.”
The exchange occurred during a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing featuring testimony from Department of Homeland Security officials. McIver said lawmakers had convened the session “for accountability” and “for answers” in the wake of the January fatal shootings of Renee Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, 37, in Minnesota.
“We are here for answers, we are here for accountability, and we are here because people are dying,” McIver said. “Let me repeat that, people are dying, and you don’t seem to care.”
During her questioning, McIver asked Lyons whether he viewed himself as a religious person before pressing him further on moral accountability.
“How do you think Judgement Day will work for you with so much blood on your hands?” McIver questioned.
“I’m not going to entertain that question,” Lyons responded.
“Of course not,” McIver replied. “Do you think you’re going to hell, Mr. Lyons?”
As Lyons began to reiterate that he would not answer, Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), the committee’s chairman, intervened, reminding McIver that “while vigorous disagreement is part of the legislative process, members are reminded that we must adhere to established standards of decorum and debate.”
McIver’s line of questioning follows a November ruling by a federal judge requiring the New Jersey Democrat to stand trial over allegations that she assaulted a law enforcement officer during a May riot outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and then-Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba later announced that McIver was charged with assaulting, resisting, and impeding law enforcement officers, reports Breitbart News.
“After a thorough review of the video footage of Delaney Hall and a full investigation from HSI, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey has made the determination to charge Congresswoman LaMonica McIver for assaulting, resisting, and impeding law enforcement officers,” Noem said in a social media post at the time.