Federal officials arrested Ras J. Baraka, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, on Friday after a confrontation that also involved three members of Congress at a new immigration detention facility that is expected to play a central role in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort.
Baraka, a Democrat who is running for governor, was taken to a separate federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, where he was still being held hours after the arrest. A large crowd of supporters was gathered outside waiting for information about when he would be released.
Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump who is now New Jersey’s interim U.S. attorney, said that Baraka had “ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself,” and had chosen “to disregard the law.”
Videos taken by protesters show Baraka being taken into custody in a public area outside the front entrance gates of the facility, which is known as Delaney Hall and is expected to hold up to 1,000 migrants at a time.
Three members of New Jersey’s Democratic congressional delegation — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver — were at the building Friday for what they said was an oversight visit, and were allowed to enter. Federal officials described the lawmakers’ presence as a “stunt.”
Baraka was allowed past the front gate, but was not allowed to accompany the members of Congress inside, according to a video taken by Viri Martinez, an immigration activist who witnessed the arrest.
“Congressmen are different, congresswomen are different,” a Homeland Security Investigations agent told the mayor, the video shows. The agent added: “That is the last warning. You will be placed under arrest.”
After leaving the facility, the members of Congress joined Baraka outside, according to aides for Watson Coleman and McIver.
McIver said that Baraka then went to a public area where other protesters were gathered. “He walked himself out,” she said.
Outside the gate, Menendez can be heard on video telling Baraka: “They’re talking about coming back to arrest you.”
“I’m not on their property,” the mayor replied. “They can’t come out on the street and arrest me.”
Baraka was taken into custody by a team of masked federal agents wearing military fatigues while outside the gates in a driveway swarming with protesters and reporters.
Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, called the episode a “bizarre political stunt” in a social media post. She said Watson Coleman and Menendez, along with “multiple protesters,” had “holed up in a guard shack.”
McLaughlin shared a video of the mayor’s arrest that she said showed a “mob” assaulting ICE agents outside the gates.
“This illegal breaking and entering of a detention facility puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk,” McLaughlin said, despite there being no evidence that the lawmakers had entered the building illegally.
Menendez said ICE agents had “put their hands on” Watson Coleman and McIver.
“They feel no restraint on what they should be doing, and that was shown in broad daylight today,” Menendez said at a news conference shortly after Baraka’s arrest.
Newark officials had argued for weeks in federal court that the center’s owner, GEO Group, was violating city laws because it had failed to obtain required permits or a valid certificate of occupancy.
On Tuesday, Baraka showed up at the facility with city inspectors at dawn seeking entry. He returned Wednesday.
Federal officials and a spokesperson for GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private prison companies, said the mayor had ignored established processes for requesting entry. They also said the facility has all the required permits.
“The mayor has been informed that he is more than welcome to enter the facility, as long as he follows security protocols like everyone else,” McLaughlin said Tuesday after Baraka had been denied entry.
In February, the Trump administration entered into a 15-year, $1 billion contract with GEO Group to turn Delaney Hall into a large detention center as ICE rushed to expand its detention capacity nationwide to meet the president’s mass deportation goals.
Because the facility is close to major airports, it is expected to play a central role in the agency’s efforts to increase deportation flights from the Northeast. But the building, which received its first detainees last week, quickly drew opposition from Democrats and local activists. They argued that its location near immigrant hubs in New Jersey and New York City would help accelerate the administration’s deportation pipeline.
In a social media post, Watson Coleman wrote that the facility had opened without permission from the city.
“We’ve heard stories of what it’s like in other ICE prisons,” she wrote. “We’re exercising our oversight authority to see for ourselves.”
In an emailed statement, McLaughlin argued that the facility had proper permits and she provided a list of five immigrants she said were being detained at Delaney Hall and had been accused of serious crimes, including murder and drug trafficking.
McIver said Baraka had done nothing wrong before his arrest.
“What we see here is despicable, and we should all be angry,” she said.
Menendez described Baraka’s arrest as “an act of intimidation.”
Watson Coleman said she had been “manhandled” and she described the events as “an abuse of power.”
Other New Jersey Democrats used social media on Friday to criticize the ICE response. Gov. Phil Murphy described Baraka’s arrest as “unjust” and called for his immediate release in a statement.
“Mayor Baraka is an exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable neighbors,” Murphy wrote.
Sen. Andy Kim described the arrest as “shocking” and said that he was in touch with ICE leaders and Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary. Sen. Cory Booker wrote that ICE officers should have de-escalated what he called a “disturbing, unnecessary” confrontation.
Late Friday, about 200 people gathered in a steady rain outside the ICE office in Newark where Baraka had been taken.
“Let him out,” the crowd chanted, referring to the mayor, and “let them in,” referring to the three members of Congress.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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