Newark Mayor Ras Baraka arrested outside of Delaney Hall in Newark
Delaney Hall is a Newark prison that the Trump administration has said it wants to turn into an immigrant detention center. It reopened on May 1.
Ras Baraka for Governor
(This story has been updated to reflect new information.)The Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, who is running to be the state’s governor, was arrested on Friday after refusing to leave a federal immigration detention center, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey said in a statement posted on social media.
Alina Habba, a former lawyer to President Donald Trump serving as acting U.S. attorney, said Mayor Ras Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings” to leave a detention facility run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark.
A spokesperson for Baraka did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters. It was not immediately clear if he was facing charges over the incident.
According to the City of Newark website, Baraka has been the mayor since 2014, being reelected in 2018 and 2022. Before becoming mayor, Baraka served on the Municipal Council of Newark between 2005 and 2014.
Baraka is also running in the Democratic primary for governor this year. According to the New Jersey Globe, Baraka, a staunch progressive, has also been a vocal critic of Trump, calling him a “criminal” in an ad earlier this year.
“They don’t have to go too far to look for criminals. They just need to go to the Oval Office because there’s a criminal in the Oval Office,” Baraka said.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Contributing: Ricardo Kaulessar and Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY; Reuters
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.