Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on May 9 and charged with trespassing after attempting to enter a newly established federal immigration detention center in the city. While seeking to inspect the facility and “conduct oversight,” Baraka, accompanied by three Democratic New Jersey lawmakers, clashed with federal agents outside Delaney Hall.
According to the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba, Baraka had been issued several warnings by Homeland Security Investigations to vacate the premises, which he reportedly ignored.
The mayor had visited Delaney Hall multiple times earlier during the week, asserting that the facility lacked the proper permits to house undocumented immigrants.
“[Baraka] has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state,” Habba said, addressing the events that unfolded outside the detention facility.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security released a separate statement claiming that a group of protesters, which included Democratic lawmakers, “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility” as a bus carrying undocumented migrants was being brought inside the fenced perimeter.
“These members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk,” the DHS added.
On the other end, Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he was “outraged” by the Newark mayor’s arrest.
He also said that he was “proud” to have signed legislation four years ago banning private immigration detention centers in New Jersey and emphasized that his administration had been at the forefront of defending the law before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Baraka was detained for around five hours and released shortly before 8 p.m. that evening.
He later told CNN he did not break any laws and was “exercising [his] right and duty as an elected official.”
“We were just rough handled literally,” Rep. LaMonica McIver, a member of the Congressional delegation, said.
“I mean nobody picked up fist to punch us but literally they pushed us, shoved us, they actually manhandled us and removed us to get us out of the way to get to the mayor to arrest him.”
The confrontation at Delaney Hall has intensified an already heated debate over immigration policy, spotlighting the deepening divide between federal enforcement practices and state and local efforts to assert oversight and uphold immigrant protections.
It also underscores the ongoing tension between federal immigration authorities and city officials who continue to push for greater accountability and transparency, especially in communities directly impacted by such facilities.
