Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, was released on Friday night after his arrest while protested in a private detention center that is expected to play a key role in President Donald Trump’s plans to perform mass deportations.
Three Democratic congressmen, Rob Menéndez, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Lamonica Mciver, were also present in the protest, but were not arrested. Baraka, 55, who spent several hours detained, addressed his supporters in front of the office of the United States National Security Department in Newark.
“The reality is this: I didn’t do anything bad,” Baraka said.
Alina Habba, appointed by Trump as an interim federal prosecutor in New Jersey, said Baraka “He committed intrusion and ignored multiple warnings of national security research to retire” of the Detention Center of Delay Hall in Newark.
“He has voluntarily opted to ignore the law,” said Habba in an X publication. “That will not be tolerated in this state. It has been put into custody.”
The actions intensify the confrontation between the Trump and Baraka administration through a center of 1,000 beds known as Delaney Hall, whose operator, Geo Group, recently reopened. Baraka, who appears to the Democratic primaries for governor of New Jersey next month, has protested several times in the center, and the city has sued the United States to prevent its use.
Baraka’s arrest marked a day of growing tension in Delaney Hall. National Security spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, He declared that the mayor and the three legislators broke into the place without permission and warned that the members of the Congress “are not above the law.”
A Watson Coleman spokesman refuted that version, saying that legislators identified themselves before the guards and were making a legal supervision visit.
“The claim that they entered by force or broke into this strongly guarded installation is a shameless lie,” according to spokesman Mike Shanahan.
Legal challenges
Newark has filed a demand to prevent Geo Group from operating the facilities, arguing that the company lacks valid permits. On May 1, the company began to house detainees in Delaney Hall, near the Newark Liberty International Airport, where the government could organize deportation flights.
Baraka has criticized Geo Group for refusing to allow the entry of municipal inspectors and has turned his confrontation with the company into a key point of his campaign for governor. He accused the company to profit with Trump’s raid.
“It is obvious what is happening here,” Baraka said in an interview before his arrest. “They are profiting with the death of others.”
Before the arrest, Geo Group spokesman said that Delaney Hall has a valid occupation certificate, It complies with all the “hired health and safety requirements” and for years it housed the United States Immigration and Customs Control Service.
After the arrest, a company spokesman refused to comment. A Habba spokeswoman did not respond to comments requests. It was not clear immediately what charges Baraka faces.
New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said he was “outraged by Baraka’s unfair arrest,” And he pointed out that he has protested against the facilities for months with religious leaders and members of Congress.
“Mayor Baraka is an exemplary public server that has always defended our most vulnerable neighbors,” said Murphy. “I demand its immediate liberation from the Federal Order forces.”
In 2021, Murphy signed a law that prohibits public and private centers from signing contracts with ICE to accommodate detained immigrants. A federal judge blocked said law and New Jersey appealed.
Delaney Hall was a jail turned into an ICE detention center when Geo Group bought its owner, Community Education Centers, in 2017 for US $ 360 million. With Trump’s return to the White House, that investment promises to be profitable. In February, ICE granted the company a 15 -year contract to stop immigrants in the center, an agreement that the company values in more than US $ 1 billion.
