Federal immigration agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on May 9 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.
Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba 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.”
On X, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said it was a “bizarre political stunt” as protesters including members of Congress, “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”
Members of Congress, by law, can visit immigrant detention facilities unannounced.
“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.”
Watson Coleman, McIver and Menendez had visited the facility unannounced, said Ned Cooper, a spokesperson for Watson Coleman.
After the representatives exited the facility, there was a scuffle that included the congressmembers when agents were going to arrest Baraka and the crowd surged, Cooper said.
Check back for more on this developing story.
Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at [email protected] or on Signal at emcuevas.01.