Federal immigration agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on May 9 after he sought to enter a new immigrant detention facility in the New Jersey city.
Video posted on X by a local news reporter shows Baraka being led off in handcuffs while visiting Delaney Hall, the Newark prison that the Trump administration has turned into an immigrant detention center. Members of Congress were visiting the detention facility as part of congressional oversight.
Baraka was with U.S. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez, all Democrats from New Jersey, when he was arrested just outside the gates of the new detention center.
Approximately five hours after being arrested in the afternoon, Baraka, also a Democrat, was released in the evening. Baraka told CNN he’s charged with federal trespassing, a misdemeanor he called “humiliating.”
“I didn’t go there to break any laws, I didn’t break any laws,” Baraka said. “I was there as the mayor of the city, exercising my right and duty as an elected official.”
Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba earlier said on X that Baraka trespassed and “ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself” from the detention center, which is operated by the private contractor GEO Group.
“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law,” Habba said in a post. “That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”
Baraka said he had been inside the gates for over an hour, as members of Congress were inside the facility. Agents arrested him outside the gate, after he had left, he said.
On X, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said the members of Congress were engaged in a “bizarre political stunt” involving protesters who “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”
“This illegal breaking and entering of a detention facility puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk,” McLaughlin tweeted. “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility. This is an evolving situation.”
Elected officials and advocates protested outside a DHS field office in Newark where Baraka was held after being arrested.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said he was “outraged by the unjust arrest” of Baraka.
“I am calling for his immediate release by federal law enforcement,” he said in a statement.
Members of Congress, by law, can visit immigrant detention facilities unannounced. Watson Coleman, McIver and Menendez were not arrested, said Ned Cooper, a spokesperson for Watson Coleman. The three members of Congress had visited the facility unannounced.
“They didn’t break any laws,” Cooper said.
After the political representatives exited the facility, agents moved in to arrest Baraka and there was a scuffle, Cooper said.
McIver told reporters outside the detention center that Baraka entered through the gate and told agents he was waiting for the three representatives to exit. They asked him to leave, and he exited through the gate, McIver said.
He was arrested after he had already exited the facility, she said.
“What we see here is despicable and we all should be angry,” McIver said. “This is unacceptable.”
Viri Martinez, of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, witnessed Baraka being arrested.
After federal agents allowed Congress members and Baraka through a gate onto the Delaney Hall premises, the agents began “talking down” to Congress members, and they started surrounding Baraka, who was shielded by his staff, Martinez said. Baraka was put in handcuffs and then thrown into an unmarked car before driving away, she said.
Baraka, who is running for governor of New Jersey, has been against the reopening of Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed detention center, saying it has not complied with city building and occupancy permits. DHS has said those allegations are false.
Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat and the senior U.S. senator in New Jersey, said Baraka has a responsibility to ensure that facilities operating in his city are adhering to laws that protect the safety and wellbeing of occupants and residents.
“This incident is disturbing, unnecessary and indicative of tactics that are undermining the safety and security of our communities, not adding to it,” Booker wrote on X. “Law enforcement officers should have deescalated this situation. Mayor Baraka should be immediately released.”
Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Federal immigration agents arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka
