Newark, New Jersey mayor Ras Baraka was arrested outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Elizabeth on Friday as the mayor and members of Congress joined demonstrations demanding answers from Donald Trump’s administration about the conditions inside, marking a major escalation of immigration protests surrounding t he facility.
Video from outside the facility shows a chaotic scene with masked federal officers trying to hold back a crowd in the detention center’s parking lot as Baraka is escorted towards the building in handcuffs.
New Jersey’s acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba — Trump’s former defense attorney — accused the mayor of trespassing and ignoring warnings from federal law enforcement agents to leave.
“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,” Habba wrote.
Lawmakers gathered in Newark on Friday to demand answers from ICE following the opening of the private, for-profit facility that can detain more than 1,000 people.
In February, ICE agency awarded GEO Group a 15-year, $1 billion contract to hold immigrants facing deportation inside the two-story facility known as Delaney Hall.
The building is near Newark Liberty International Airport, which has been used by the federal government to stage removal flights.
Baraka, a Democratic candidate for the state’s governor, has vowed to join daily demonstrations outside the facility until city officials are allowed inside to inspect its conditions. He said government officials did not obtain necessary permits to jail immigrants there, and the city of Newark filed a lawsuit against the administration last month in a last-ditch attempt to prevent its opening. The facility opened May 1.
Speaking on Fox News immediately following Baraka’s arrest, Habba refused to say where he is being detained.
“We will not stand for anyone getting in the way and getting rid of criminals in this country,” Habba said. “It’s very simple. Unfortunately, the mayor has publicly for three days been saying he will break in and eventually did break in and was given multiple opportunities to remove himself and failed to do so and has been detained and will be charged.”
At a press conference outside the facility, Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman said lawmakers traveled to the facility to see the conditions.
“We don’t know if everyone belongs there, but we know people are safe and it is OK and they are feeding them,” she said. “ICE is out of control. ICE thinks it can intimidate all of us. And it cannot intimidate any of us. And we the people will make sure that this administration adheres to the rules that separate us from dictatorships and other third world countries.”
This is a developing story
