NEWARK, NJ (TIP): Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was released Friday, May 9 night after being held following his arrest outside the gates of an immigrant detention facility.
Baraka walked out of U.S. Custom Services in Newark shortly before 8 p.m.
“This thing that’s happening right now in America is wrong,” the mayor told a large crowd of supporters waiting for his release. “It’s just an example of the work we have to do.“
“My family and a lot of our families came here to Newark from the South, fleeing Jim Crow and deep segregation,” Baraka noted in a brief but emotional speech.
“We were from the first undocumented people here. Our relationship to immigrants is clear,” he added, before he asked the crowd to clear the protest area and head home. Baraka was arrested earlier Friday afternoon by ICE officers outside the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility in Newark after he was physically dragged through the gate and placed in handcuffs.
On Friday evening, U.S. Judge Andre Espinosa, a federal magistrate judge, ordered Baraka immediately released, city officials said.
Earlier, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said Baraka was trespassing and “ignored multiple warnings” from Homeland Security Investigations to leave the property.
“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law,” Habba, whom President Donald Trump appointed as the state’s interim top federal prosecutor, said on X. “That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”
Baraka, who is a Democratic candidate for governor in the June primary election, was outside the gates of Delaney Hall, a facility he has opposed, on Friday afternoon.
ICE officers arrest N.J. mayor outside immigrant detention center
He had been with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation — U.S. Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman — who had come to inspect the facility.
Baraka was allowed to enter the gates to the facility but wasn’t allowed into the building with the other elected representatives. He was told he had to go outside the gate and an aide to one of the congresspeople informed Baraka that ICE were discussing arresting him.
In an interview shortly after 9 p.m. on CNN, Baraka said he was treated well while in custody.
“They (Homeland Security) treated me with dignity. And I appreciate that,” the mayor said.
“It was a humiliating experience and uncomfortable for me overall,” he continued.
Baraka said he was charged with federal trespassing. But he added: “I didn’t break any laws. I did not enter that place unlawfully.”
Baraka disputed the contention that it was a publicity stunt as he runs for governor.
“I think the publicity stunt is this idea that we should violate the court orders, violate the Constitution of the United States, that we should run roughshod over state and local laws,” he said.
When asked if he had any regrets about what happened, Baraka said, “I went down there to support my congresspeople…I went down there to support them in a press conference, and I would do it again.” In a later interview on MSNBC, Baraka said he was considering his next steps.
“I will confer with my lawyers to figure out what’s the best pathway forward on this,” he said. “I think they completely violated my rights … I have the right to go anywhere in this city, particularly in places where I think our laws are being violated.”
Baraka and other city officials went to Delaney Hall to serve summonses on its private owner-operator, the GEO Group of Boca Ratón, Florida.
The summonses assert that GEO has refused to grant fire and code officials access to Delaney Hall and has placed a padlock on the gate, violating state law.
City officials had tried to serve the summonses on the GEO Group on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, when a company representative refused to accept them each time, forcing city officials to leave them on the gate, a retractable chain link fence topped with razor wire.
Opposition to Delaney Hall’s reopening intensified in February when ICE and the GEO Group announced they had reached a deal for the company to operate the facility under a 15-year contract worth $1 billion to the GEO Group.
Baraka is running in a tightly packed six-way primary race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. The mayor has a base in Newark, is making a big appeal to Black voters, and has gained support from progressive groups, most notably opponents of Trump’s immigration policies.
Politicians, including almost all of the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, took to social media Friday to comment on Booker’s arrest. His Democratic colleagues voiced support and called for his release, while Republicans condemned Baraka’s actions.
