By Andrew Goudsward and Steve Gorman
(Reuters) – The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, a Democrat who is running for governor, was arrested on Friday at a privately run federal immigration detention center while three U.S. lawmakers were on site for an unannounced inspection, officials said.
Mayor Ras Baraka was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a scuffle at the gate to the ICE facility in Newark during the visit by three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, according to a spokesperson for one of them, U.S. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman.
The spokesperson, Ned Cooper, told Reuters that Coleman and her two fellow Democratic colleagues, Representatives LaMonica McIver and Robert Menendez Jr., were also “shoved around a bit” in the fracas, but no one was believed to have been hurt.
Alina Habba, a former lawyer to President Donald Trump serving as acting U.S. attorney, said on the social media outlet X that Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings” to leave the ICE facility, known as Delaney Hall.
A spokesperson for Baraka did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear if he was facing charges over the incident. Cooper said the mayor was taken away to another ICE facility in Newark where he was being held.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE, said the three lawmakers with a group of demonstrators who tried to force their way into the facility when a bus of detainees arrived.
“These members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Cooper said Coleman, McIver and Menendez paid an unannounced visit to the detention center “exercising their oversight roles as members of Congress,” and that ICE was obligated to grant them admission.
Allegations that the three lawmakers stormed the facility are “factually not true,” Cooper said, adding that Baraka remained outside the fence around the grounds to the facility, where he “has been continually showing up” in recent days.
Cooper said the lawmakers were not part of or coordinated with a separate protest that was taking place at the facility, and had not coordinated their visit with the mayor.
According to Cooper’s account of the incident, the lawmakers were escorted through the gate but were initially denied entry to the detention center itself. After speaking with guards for several minutes they noticed a crowd converging around the mayor and a physical altercation ensued that led to Baraka’s arrest.
The members of congress ultimately were admitted to the building and left about three hours after their arrival, Cooper said.
McIver, in a video posted on social media, said Baraka “did nothing wrong,” calling the incident “unacceptable.”
Baraka is running for the Democratic nomination as New Jersey’s governor in a competitive field. The primary is scheduled for next month.
Immigrant rights advocates allege that Delaney Hall, a 1,000-person detention center operated by the private prison company GEO Group, lacked proper city permits and opened despite opposition from the community and elected officials.
DHS denied that the facility lacked proper permits and highlighted cases of alleged gang members and criminals being held there. GEO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Washington and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
