When three New Jersey House Democrats — Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver — joined protesters violently seeking to force entry into Newark’s Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center on May 9, their actions prompted contradictory outcries on both sides of the aisle in Congress.

“Members of Congress have a constitutional responsibility to serve as a check on the out-of-control policies of the executive branch, including conducting oversight wherever and whenever it is needed. I thank Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver for showing up, standing up and speaking out today in Newark,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a hastily issued statement shortly after the clash that dominated headlines for several days even as President Donald Trump was conducting an historic trip to the Middle East.

But Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) was so outraged by the incident that he introduced a House resolution to strip the Democratic trio of their committee assignments.

“The radical left has lost their minds. They would rather raid an ICE facility to defend criminal illegal immigrants than represent their own constituents. This behavior constitutes an assault on our brave ICE agents and undermines the rule of law. The three members involved in this stunt do not deserve to sit on committees alongside serious lawmakers,” said Carter said in a statement.

The Democratic trio denied they were involved in any illegal activities and insisted that they sought to visit the ICE facility in the course of their duties in congressional oversight. None of the three, however, are members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, the chief oversight arm of the lower chamber of Congress. Spokesmen for the three House Democrats did not respond to The Washington Stand’s request for comment.

Newark’s mayor was arrested during the fracas, but none of the congressional trio were taken into custody. Still, punishment may yet be in the offing, as explained by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.).

“Look, there’s three possible disciplinary actions that Congress — that the House can take. You can censure a member and that probably does seem appropriate here. You can kick them off committees — that’s a new tradition adopted by the Democrats in recent years. And you can expel someone from Congress,” Johnson said.

“We are looking at what is appropriate,” the speaker said. “I think it’s pretty clear that the law was violated.”

Expulsion is the least likely of the three possibilities because it requires a two-thirds vote of the House, which is unlikely given the unanimous support for the three New Jersey Democrats by their partisan colleagues.

Whatever punishment, if any, is ultimately imposed on them, retired Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist Richard Pollock instantly recognized what was behind the three Democrats’ actions.

“The New Jersey congressmen were lifting a page from New Left leaders of old. Confronting authority was the basis for much of the New Left and it remains part of today’s current political game plan. Not only does this generate headlines, but it instills a sense of ‘righteousness’ in the actors,” Pollock told The Washington Stand in an exclusive interview.

“The congressmen had no intention to really tour the detention center. Publicity was their primary goal. These are publicity seekers. It has nothing to do with public safety or the pursuit of justice,” he continued.

Pollock recently retired after a 57-year journalism career that included eight years at ABC News during which time he won an Emmy Award for his work as Washington Producer of “Good Morning America.” He also served as producer of “Fox News Sunday,” Washington Bureau Chief for Pajamas Media and Senior Investigative Reporter for the Washington Examiner and the Daily Caller News Foundation.

But prior to his journalism career, Pollock was an intimate of New Left leaders, including Chicago Eight defendant Rennie Davis. Pollock was also the chief author of the “May Day Manual,” published by the Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam in conjunction with its violent 1971 protests that sought to shut down the nation’s capital.

While his personal political views have matured in the years since, Pollock remains a close and knowledgeable analyst of strategies and tactics employed by political activists and officeholders on the Left of the American ideological spectrum.

Pollock also pointed to parallels in the recent anti-Israel protests at multiple U.S. universities, including the most recent on May 7 when an estimated 100 protestors forced their way into the Columbia University library while students there were studying for finals. He further noted parallels with anti-ICE protestors disrupting multiple congressional hearings and having to be forcibly removed by U.S. Capitol Police.

“We are seeing the anti-ICE protesters steal a page from the pro-Palestinian protesters who desire to disrupt congressional hearings to generate publicity. They are not dedicated to debate. They seek disruption in our society and to suppress debate,” Pollock said, pointing to his recent analysis on Substack of such connections.

“Disrupting congressional hearings also is an effort to diminish our institutions. This was a core objective during the 1970’s when the Weather underground, Black Panthers and other radical Left groups sought to weaken public confidence in our institutions,” he said, recalling his role as a protest organizer and strategist in those years.

“The pro-Hamas, pro-Intifadah, ‘Death to America’ movement at Columbia, Harvard, MIT, and other Ivy League campuses — and the ongoing attacks on the ICE detention centers — is all from the same activist page. The virulent anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish students and faculty across student campuses also is designed to demonize America and its biggest Middle East ally, Israel. This is a dark movement that is operating throughout the West, including in Canada, Europe, and in Australia,” he added.

Editor’s Note: The Washington Stand’s Mark Tapscott and Richard Pollock were colleagues at the Washington Examiner and Daily Caller News Foundation.