Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, arrested at immigration detention center he has been protesting

09.05.2025    WTOP    2 views
Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, arrested at immigration detention center he has been protesting

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a federal immigration detention center where he has been protesting its opening this week Baraka a Democrat who is running to succeed term-limited Gov Phil Murphy has embraced the fight with the Trump administration over illegal immigration He has aggressively pushed back against the construction and opening of the -bed detention center arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues Linda Baraka the mayor s wife accused the federal executive of targeting her husband They didn t arrest anyone else They didn t ask anyone else to leave They longed to make an example out of the mayor she mentioned adding that she had not been allowed to see him A crowd gathered to protest outside the building where Baraka was being held with countless chanting Let the mayor go Alina Habba interim U S attorney for New Jersey mentioned on the social platform X that Baraka committed trespass and ignored warnings from Homeland Safety personnel to leave Delaney Hall a detention facility run by private prison operator Geo Group Habba mentioned Baraka had chosen to disregard the law and added that he was taken into custody Onlookers describe a heated argument Onlookers stated the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join three members of New Jersey s congressional delegation Reps Robert Menendez LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman in attempting to enter the facility When federal officers blocked his entry a heated argument broke out according to Viri Martinez an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice It continued even after Baraka returned to the general side of the gates There was yelling and pushing Martinez stated Then the officers swarmed Baraka They threw one of the organizers to the ground They put Baraka in handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car In a comment the Department of Homeland Assurance stated the lawmakers had not requested for a tour of the facility The department disclosed further that as a bus carrying detainees was entering a group of protestors including two members of the U S House of Representatives stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility Homeland Assurance did not respond to questions about why only the mayor was arrested Watson Coleman spokesperson Ned Cooper revealed the lawmakers went to the facility early in the afternoon unannounced because their plan was to inspect it not to take a scheduled tour They arrived explained to the guards and the officers at the facility that they were there to exercise their oversight authority he declared adding that they were allowed to enter and inspect the center sometime between p m and p m DHS in its comment issued after Baraka s arrest declared Menendez Watson Coleman and a number of protesters were presently holed up in a guard shack at the facility 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 McLaughlin reported Watson Coleman who left and was at a Homeland Assurance Investigations holding facility where Baraka was stated to have been taken stated the DHS comment inaccurately characterized the visit Contrary to a press announcement put out by DHS we did not storm the detention center she wrote The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn t even correctly count the number of Representatives present We were exercising our legal oversight function as we have done at the Elizabeth Detention Center without circumstance Video shows the mayor standing on the general side of the gate In video of the altercation shared with The Associated Press a federal official in a jacket with the logo of the Homeland Safety Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not join a tour of the facility because you are not a congress member Baraka then left the secure area rejoining protesters on the populace side of the gate Video revealed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit who commented 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 later several ICE agents a few wearing face coverings surrounded him and others on the constituents side As protesters cried out Shame Baraka was dragged back through the guard gate in handcuffs The ICE personnel came out aggressively to arrest him and grab him announced Julie Moreno a New Jersey state captain of American Families United It didn t make any sense why they chose that moment to grab him while he was outside the gates An email and phone message left with the mayor s communications office were not without delay answered Friday afternoon Kabir Moss a spokesperson for Baraka s gubernatorial campaign disclosed We are actively monitoring and will provide more details as they become available Several civil rights and immigration modification advocates as well as leadership authorities condemned Baraka s arrest New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J Platkin whose office is defending a state law barring private immigration detention facilities criticized the arrest during a seemingly peaceful protest and mentioned no state or local law enforcement agencies were involved The history of the facility The two-story building next to a county prison formerly operated as a halfway house In February ICE awarded a -year contract to The Geo Group Inc to run the Newark detention center Geo valued the contract at billion in an unusually long and large agreement for ICE The announcement was part of President Donald Trump s plans to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from a budget of about beds this year Baraka sued Geo soon after the deal was revealed Geo touted the Delaney Hall contract during its earnings call with shareholders Wednesday with CEO David Donahue saying it was expected to generate more than million a year in revenue He revealed the facility began the intake process May Hall revealed the activation of the facility and another in Michigan would increase total ceiling under contract with ICE from around beds to around DHS disclosed in its message that the facility has the proper permits and inspections have been cleared Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed Source

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