The mayor of Newark was arrested Friday at an ICE detention facility in New Jersey the place congressional leaders had scheduled a day “oversight” go to.
A spokesperson confirmed Mayor Ras Baraka was taken into custody by federal police exterior Delaney Corridor in Newark. The spokesperson didn’t have extra particulars to supply.
Alina Habba, the interim U.S. lawyer for the district of New Jersey, mentioned Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center.”
“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody,” a put up on X learn.
Baraka had visited the ability in latest days amid efforts to shut the lately reopened jail. The mayor has made public claims that the detention heart doesn’t have the suitable permits to function.
Witnesses mentioned the arrest got here after Baraka tried to affix a scheduled tour of the ability with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
“We’re at Delaney Hall, an ICE prison in Newark that opened without permission from the city & in violation of local ordinances,” Rep. Coleman wrote in a put up on X.
When federal officers blocked his entry, a heated argument broke out, based on Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It continued even after Baraka returned to the general public aspect of the gates.
“The agents started intimidating and putting their hands on the congresswomen. There was yelling and pushing,” Martinez mentioned. “Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put Baraka handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car.”
Baraka, a Democrat who’s working to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has embraced the combat with the Trump administration over unlawful immigration.
He has aggressively pushed again in opposition to the development and opening of the 1,000-bed detention heart, arguing that it shouldn’t be allowed to open due to constructing allow points.
The 2-story constructing subsequent to a county jail operated as a midway home earlier than a February announcement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that it and the GEO Group reached a $1 billion, 15-year deal for a detention heart there.
Baraka sued GEO Group quickly after the deal was introduced.
