Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was released after spending several hours in custody following his arrest at a new federal immigration detention center he has been protesting against.
Baraka was accused of trespassing and ignoring warnings to leave the Delaney Hall facility and was finally released around 8 p.m. Friday. Stepping out of an SUV with flashing emergency lights, he told waiting supporters: 鈥淭he reality is this: I didn’t do anything wrong.鈥
The mayor said he could not speak about his case, citing a promise he made to lawyers and the judge. But he voiced full-throated support for everyone living in his community, immigrants included.
鈥淎ll of us here, every last one of us, I don鈥檛 care what background you come from, what nationality, what language you speak,鈥 Baraka said, 鈥渁t some point we have to stop these people from causing division between us.鈥
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 1,000-bed detention center, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.
Linda Baraka, the mayor鈥檚 wife, accused the federal government of targeting her husband.
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 arrest anyone else. They didn鈥檛 ask anyone else to leave. They wanted to make an example out of the mayor,鈥 she said, adding that she had not been allowed to see him.
Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka trespassed at the detention facility, which is run by private prison operator Geo Group.
Habba said Baraka had 鈥渃hosen to disregard the law.鈥
Video of the incident showed that Baraka was arrested after returning to the public side of the gate to the facility.
Witnesses describe a heated argument
Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join three members of New Jersey鈥檚 congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, in attempting to enter the facility.
When federal officials 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 public side of the gates.
鈥淭here was yelling and pushing,鈥 Martinez said. 鈥淭hen 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.鈥
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the lawmakers had not asked for a tour of Delaney Hall, which the agency said it would have facilitated. The department said that as a bus carrying detainees was entering in the afternoon 鈥渁 group of protestors, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.鈥
Watson Coleman spokesperson Ned Cooper said the three lawmakers went there unannounced because they planned to inspect it, not take a scheduled tour.
鈥淭hey arrived, explained to the guards and the officials at the facility that they were there to exercise their oversight authority,鈥 he said, adding that they were allowed to enter and inspect the center sometime between 3 and 4 p.m.
Watson Coleman later said the DHS statement inaccurately characterized the visit.
鈥淐ontrary to a press statement put out by DHS we did not 鈥榮torm鈥 the detention center,鈥 she wrote. 鈥淭he author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn鈥檛 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 incident.鈥
Video shows the mayor standing on the public 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 Security Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not enter the facility because 鈥測ou are not a congress member.鈥
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 said: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e talking about coming back to arrest you.鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 not on their property. They can鈥檛 come out on the street and arrest me,鈥 Baraka replied.
Minutes later several ICE agents, some wearing face coverings, surrounded him and others on the public side. As protesters cried out, 鈥淪hame,鈥 Baraka was dragged back through the gate in handcuffs.
Several civil rights and immigration reform advocates, as well as government officials, condemned Baraka鈥檚 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 said no state or local law enforcement agencies were involved.
Rep. Menendez said in a statement that as members of Congress, they have the legal right to carry out oversight at DHS facilities without prior notice and have done so twice already this year. But on Friday, 鈥淭hroughout every step of this visit, ICE attempted to intimidate everyone involved and impede our ability to conduct oversight.鈥
The detention center
The two-story building next to a county prison formerly operated as a halfway house.
In February, ICE awarded a 15-year contract to The Geo Group Inc. to run the detention center. Geo valued the contract at $1 billion, in an unusually long and large agreement for ICE.
The announcement was part of President Donald Trump鈥檚 plans to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from a budget of about 41,000 beds this year.
Baraka sued Geo soon after the deal was announced.
Geo touted the Delaney Hall contract during an earnings call with shareholders Wednesday, with CEO David Donahue saying it was expected to generate more than $60 million a year in revenue. He said the facility began the intake process May 1.
Hall said the activation of the center and another in Michigan would increase capacity under contract with ICE from around 20,000 beds to around 23,000.
DHS said in its statement that the facility has the proper permits and inspections have been cleared.
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Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed.
