Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark speaks to the press near ICE agents at a demonstration outside an immigrant detention centre in Elizabeth, New Jersey May 7, 2025.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday for allegedly trespassing inside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in his city, New Jersey’s interim top prosecutor said.
Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings” from Department of Homeland Security officials who told him to leave the facility, alleged Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody,” Habba, a former defense attorney for President Donald Trump, wrote on X.
“NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,” she added.
Baraka, 55, is a Democrat running for governor of New Jersey. Kabir Moss, a spokesman for Baraka’s gubernatorial campaign, confirmed the arrest at the facility known as Delaney Hall, NBC News reported.
At least three U.S. House Democrats from New Jersey were also at the detention center on Friday, according to an X post from Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Baraka’s office and campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Videos posted on X by News12NJ reporter Amanda Lee show a physical altercation between law enforcement officers and apparent protesters by a security gate at the facility.
Another video posted by Lee appears to show Baraka being led away with his hands cuffed behind his back.
A spokesperson for Watson Coleman told NBC that the three U.S. representatives “were escorted in” to Delaney Hall “after a period of explaining the law to the officials at the site.”
The members of Congress said they were there to conduct oversight on the facility in light of reporting about other ICE centers, which have become political flashpoints amid Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts.
But Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to NBC called the incident “a bizarre political stunt” by a group of protesters that included the elected officials.
The group “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility” as a busload of detainees entered a security gate, McLaughlin said.
The protesters “holed up in a guard shack, the first security check point,” she said.
“Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility. This is an evolving situation,” she added.
Baraka’s administration filed a lawsuit in late March to block the opening of the Newark immigrant detention facility, arguing that its operators failed to obtain the proper permits and violated city code.
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