Newark Mayor Ras Baraka showed up to at an ICE detention center that reopened in his city on Tuesday morning, claiming the facility does not have the valid permits to operate.
The Democrat and his supporters were outside Delaney Hall, where he accused the facility of turning away local fire inspectors following a judge’s order to allow city officials to examine the site.
“We want them to follow our rules, follow our laws,” said Baraka, who vowed to shut down the facility, according to The New York Times.
The mayor — who is a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for this year’s New Jersey governor’s race, said he would return to Delaney Hall to protest its use every day after Newark fire inspectors issued three code violations against the facility.
Baraka is demanding full fire, safety and health inspections at the site following a previous inspection that found “violations that put first responders at risk, violations that put detainees and workers that are there at risk.”
In February, ICE awarded the GEO Group with a 15-year, $1 billion contract to hold migrants facing deportation at Delaney Hall, which can house around 1,000 people.
The city is currently suing the facility for more inspections while accusing ICE of failing to indicate exactly how many detainees are being held in the building.
The center does not yet have a valid certificate of occupancy, according to Newark officials.
GEO Group spokesperson Christopher Ferreira, however, said the company does have a valid certificate and that the facility is complying with “all the contracted health and safety requirements.”
Ferreira slammed Baraka’s office of launching a “politicized campaign” against the company, accusing the mayor of trying to “interfere with the federal government’s efforts to arrest, detain, and deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens in accordance with established federal law,” Gothamist reported.
The GEO Group and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment over Tuesday’s protest.
Baraka has been leading the fight against the reopening of Delaney Hall, which was shutdown in 2017 before President Trump’s immigration overhaul.
Recent polls show that Baraka is a favorite in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, coming in third place behind Rep. Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, according to The New Jersey Globe.
