WASHINGTON, D.C. (WCIV) — Rep. Nancy Mace filed a resolution Wednesday to expel Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver after she was charged with two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding an officer.

McIver's charges stemmed from a May 9 skirmish outside of Delaney Hall, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement-run facility. McIver, at a hearing Wednesday, denied the charges and said she was carrying out her duty as a member of Congress to oversee a federal facility. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of up to eight years in prison, prosecutors said.

After filing the resolution to remove McIver, Mace, a Republican from South Carolina's coastal 1st Congressional District, said that her move represents no one being above the law.

"McIver didn’t just break the law, she attacked the very people who defend it,” Mace said. "Attacking Homeland Security and ICE agents isn’t just disgraceful, it’s assault. If any other American did what she did, they’d be in handcuffs. McIver thinks being a Member of Congress puts her above the law. It doesn’t. She should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

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Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba had initially charged Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka with trespassing after his arrest, but dismissed the allegation on Monday when she said in a social media post that she was instead charging McIver, who first came to Congress in a September special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr.

Prosecuting McIver is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption.

McIver has denied any wrongdoing and has accused federal agents of escalating the situation by arresting the mayor. She denounced the charge as “purely political” and said prosecutors are distorting her actions in an effort to deter legislative oversight.

McIver’s Democratic colleagues claimed the same.

"The criminal charge against Congresswoman LaMonic McIver is extreme, morally bankrupt and lacks any basis in law or fact," House Democratic leadership said in a statement. "An attack on one of us is an attack on the American people."

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Under the law, members of Congress are authorized to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill that spelled out the authority.

A two-minute video depicts McIver on the facility side of a fence before the arrest of the mayor on the street side. She appears to go through the gate and joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor. The video then depicts McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point, her elbows push into an officer wearing a face covering.

It isn’t clear from police bodycam video whether that contact was intentional, incidental or a result of jostling during the skirmish.

“In a time when public trust in government is at a historic low, the House must act decisively,” said Mace. “The evidence is clear. The charges are serious. And the public deserves to know that criminal conduct in the halls of Congress has consequences.”

The last member expelled from Congress was former Republican Rep. George Santos, who, at the time of his expulsion in December 2023, was accused of a litany of financial misdeeds. In August of last year, Santos pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. In April, he was sentenced to 87 months in prison.

Mace voted against his expulsion from the chamber.

Now, Mace's resolution against McIver heads to the House Committee on Ethics for consideration.

"Democrats in December 2023 set the precedent that we can expel members of Congress who have not been convicted of any crimes," Mace said. "We are using the same tools that they used to punish our members."

A preliminary hearing in McIver's case was scheduled for June 11.