Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday outside a New Jersey immigration detention center after joining members of Congress in a protest demanding answers about the facility’s conditions. The arrest came during a heated standoff at the ICE-run Delaney Hall center in Elizabeth.
Baraka and several Democratic lawmakers were on site to push for access to the facility, which opened May 1 under a controversial $1 billion contract with private prison company GEO Group. The building can hold over 1,000 people and is located near Newark Liberty International Airport.
Videos from the scene show masked federal officers shoving protesters as tensions boiled over in the facility’s parking lot. Baraka is seen being pushed toward the building and handcuffed. Three members of Congress—Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Robert Menendez Jr.—were caught in the chaos.
U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, who also serves as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, confirmed Baraka’s arrest and accused him of trespassing.
“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,” Habba wrote.
Baraka, a Democrat and current gubernatorial candidate, had vowed to protest outside the center daily until the city could inspect its conditions. He has argued that the federal government bypassed local permits and that Newark had filed a lawsuit to stop the facility from opening.
“We will not stand for anyone getting in the way and getting rid of criminals in this country,” Habba said in a Fox News interview after the arrest. “Unfortunately, the mayor has publicly for three days been saying he will break in and eventually did break in and was given multiple opportunities to remove himself and failed to do so and has been detained and will be charged.”
Lawmakers had arrived for what they called an “oversight visit.” Three of them were allowed inside briefly, but things escalated when agents blocked further access. Witnesses say the situation turned violent.
Rep. McIver said she and Rep. Watson Coleman were “assaulted,” and Rep. Menendez was “roughed up.”
“What we just witnessed was disgusting,” McIver said. “If they can treat three members of Congress like that, just imagine how they can treat people on the street each and every day.”
Watson Coleman slammed ICE, saying, “ICE is out of control. ICE thinks it can intimidate all of us. And it cannot intimidate any of us.”
Homeland Security’s assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed the lawmakers “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility,” calling it a risk to agents and detainees. Watson Coleman’s office fired back, calling that claim “factually inaccurate.”
“No sitting mayor of an American city should be arrested for trying to inspect an immigration facility in their jurisdiction,” said Murad Awawdeh of the New York Immigration Coalition. He called the arrest “reckless and irresponsible.”
The incident has sparked outrage across the country and deepened criticism of the administration’s immigration crackdown, which aims to rapidly deport tens of thousands of immigrants from massive detention centers.
Watch the video below:
