Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a top Democratic gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey, was arrested on Friday for trespassing at an ICE holding facility in Newark during a protest.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called the incident, which took place at the Delaney Hall ICE detention center, a “beyond bizarre political stunt” that “puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk.”
The prison currently holds alleged killers, MS-13 gang members and accused child rapists, among other criminal offenders.
U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced that Baraka, one of the leading Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor, was arrested on Friday for his involvement in the incident.
“The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon,” said Habba. “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.”
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Local outlet Insider NJ reported that a spokesperson for Baraka’s campaign confirmed the arrest, saying that he “was arrested and detained by ICE” and that he was being transported to the Homeland Security Investigations Newark field office.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that Reps. Rob Menendez Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver, all New Jersey Democrats, were also involved in the incident and rushed through the facility’s gates, demanding they be allowed to conduct an “oversight visit.”
The lawmakers were held up at the first checkpoint.
Baraka, who has been protesting the facility’s opening for months, was a regular presence at protests outside the building throughout the week.
Baraka has said that using Delaney Hall for processing people in the country illegally goes against state and local law, leading the city to file a lawsuit in the Essex County Superior Court at the end of March.
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In a press conference on Monday, Baraka said that GEO Group, the private company running the prison, is “following the pattern of the president of the United States who believes that he can just do what he wants to do and obscure the laws, national and constitutional laws, and they think they can do the same thing in the state of New Jersey and in Newark.”
Commenting on the arrest, New Jersey Sen. Jon Bramnick, a GOP gubernatorial candidate, told Fox News that “it doesn’t really surprise me because he’s been fighting the opening of Delaney Hall since it opened” and that the mayor “wasn’t very pleased with ICE taking over Delaney Hall.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who is also a candidate for governor, condemned the arrest, calling it an “absolute outrage.”
Sherill said that Baraka “needs to be released immediately.”
Another Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Steven Fulop, who is mayor of Jersey City, also condemned the arrest, saying, “We’re watching lines get crossed in real time” and that “this is a dangerous precedent.”
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Meanwhile, Jack Ciattarelli, another GOP candidate for New Jersey governor, called Baraka’s actions a “cheap publicity stunt.”
“In Newark, the airport is in the midst of an unprecedented & dangerous meltdown, the public schools are failing students & families, and there is crime in the streets every day. And yet its Mayor and leading Democrat candidate for Governor, [Ras Baraka], is busy shilling for illegal Immigrants at an ICE detention center with a cheap publicity stunt. Shameful,” he posted on X.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Cameron Arcand and Fox News Channel’s Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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