Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a federal immigration detention center where he has been demonstrating against its opening this week, a federal prosecutor announced.
Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, posted on the social site X that Baraka trespassed and disregarded warnings from Homeland Security officials to vacate Delaney Hall, a detention center operated by private prison company GEO Group.
Habba reported Baraka had “chosen to ignore the law” and further stated that he was taken into custody.
Baraka, a Democrat who is vying to replace term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has taken up the battle with the Trump administration regarding illegal immigration.
He has strongly opposed the building and opening of the 1,000-bed detention center, contending that it cannot be opened due to building permit issues.
Witnesses reported the arrest followed after Baraka tried to accompany a planned tour of the facility with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
When federal authorities held him back from entering, the two men clashed in a fierce argument, says Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It resumed even after Baraka went back to the open side of gates.
There was shouting and shoving,” Martinez said. “Then the officers surrounded Baraka. They pushed one of the organizers to the ground. They handcuffed Baraka and shoved him into an unmarked vehicle.
In a statement, The Department of Homeland Security indicated that the lawmakers hadn’t requested a tour of the facility, as testified by witnesses. The department added that as a bus with detainees was approaching the facility, “a group of protestors, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”
It reported Menendez, Watson Coleman, and several protesters were then “holed up in a guard shack” at the facility.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin was cited in the statement as describing it as “beyond a bizarre political stunt” and stating it jeopardized agents’ and detainees’ safety.
Members of Congress are not exempt from the law and cannot illegally enter detention centers. If these members had asked for a tour, we would have provided a tour of the facility,” McLaughlin said.
In video of the fight posted with The Associated Press, a federal agent wearing a jacket with the Homeland Security Investigations logo is heard informing Baraka that he could not accompany a tour of the building because “you are not a Congress member.”
Baraka then left the secure area, rejoining protesters on the public side of the gate. Video showed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit, who informed him: “They’re talking about coming back to arrest you.”
“I’m not on their property, they can’t come out on the street and arrest me,” Baraka replied.
Minutes after that a number of ICE agents, some of whom wore face masks, encircled Baraka and others on the public side of the gate. While protesters shouted, “Shame,” Baraka was pulled back through the security gate in handcuffs.
An email and phone message left with the mayor’s communications office were not immediately answered Friday afternoon. Kabir Moss, a spokesperson for Baraka’s gubernatorial campaign, said, “We are actively monitoring and will provide more details as they become available.”
The two-story building next to a county prison formerly operated as a halfway house.
Then in February, ICE contracted The Geo Group Inc. to operate the Newark detention center for 15 years. Geo pegged the deal at $1 billion, an exceptionally long and big contract for ICE.
The announcement was part of President Donald Trump’s effort to significantly boost detention beds across the country from this year’s budget of around 41,000 beds.
Baraka filed a suit against GEO Group shortly after the deal was announced.
Geo boasted the deal with Delaney Hall on its shareholders’ conference call Wednesday, with CEO David Donahue stating it would bring in over $60 million annually in revenue. He indicated the facility opened up the intake process May 1.
Hall indicated that the opening of the facility and a second in Michigan would bring contracted total capacity with ICE up from approximately 20,000 beds to approximately 23,000.
DHS included in its release that the plant has the required permits and there have been completed inspections.