Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday (Might 9) at a federal immigration detention heart. Baraka had been protesting the power’s opening this week. The arrest has sparked many reactions on social media and from political commentators.

Baraka has embraced the battle with the Trump administration over unlawful immigration. He has aggressively pushed again in opposition to the development and opening of the 1,000-bed detention heart. He argues that it mustn’t open due to constructing allow points. In the meantime, Linda Baraka, the mayor’s spouse, accused the federal authorities of focusing on her husband.

“They didn’t arrest anybody else. They didn’t ask anybody else to go away. They wished to make an instance out of the mayor,” she stated, including that she had not been allowed to see him.

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Witnesses Describe The Arrest Of Mayor Ras Baraka

Video of the incident confirmed that Baraka was arrested after returning to the general public facet of the power’s gate. Witnesses stated the arrest got here after Baraka tried to enter the power with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation. They embody Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

In response to Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, a heated argument broke out when federal officers blocked the mayor’s entry. The argument continued even after Baraka returned to the general public facet of the gates.

“There was yelling and pushing,” Martinez stated. “Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of many organizers to the bottom. They put Baraka in handcuffs and put him in an unmarked automotive.”

Video obtained by the Related Press reveals a federal official in a Homeland Safety Investigations jacket telling Baraka he couldn’t be a part of a tour of the power. He reportedly stated, “You aren’t a congress member.” Baraka then left the safe space, rejoining protesters on the general public facet of the gate.

A person in a swimsuit stated by the gate, “They’re speaking about coming again to arrest you.” Baraka replied, “I’m not on their property. They will’t come out on the road and arrest me.” Minutes later, a number of ICE brokers, some carrying face coverings, surrounded him and others on the general public facet. As protesters cried out, “Disgrace,” the brokers dragged Mayor Ras Baraka again by the safety gate in handcuffs.

After the arrest, a crowd had gathered to protest outdoors the Newark constructing the place officers had been holding Baraka. Many had been shouting, “Let the mayor go!”

Division Of Homeland Safety Reacts, Lawmaker Shuts Down Company’s Assertion

In an announcement, the Division of Homeland Safety stated the lawmakers had not requested a tour of the Newark facility. As a substitute, protestors and the lawmakers had allegedly “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility” as a bus carrying detainees was coming into. Nonetheless, Homeland Safety didn’t reply questions on why solely Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested.

In the meantime, Watson Coleman spokesperson Ned Cooper stated the lawmakers went unannounced to the power early within the afternoon as a result of they deliberate to examine it. It was not their plan to take a scheduled tour.

“They arrived, defined to the guards and the officers on the facility that they had been there to train their oversight authority,” he stated, including that they had been allowed to enter and examine the middle someday between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Watson herself stated the DHS assertion inaccurately explains what occurred in the course of the go to.

“Opposite to a press assertion put out by DHS we didn’t ‘storm’ the detention heart,” she wrote. “The creator of that press launch was so unfamiliar with the information on the bottom that they didn’t even appropriately rely the variety of Representatives current. We had been exercising our authorized oversight perform as we have now completed on the Elizabeth Detention Heart with out incident.”

DHS stated in its assertion that the power has the correct permits and that inspections have been cleared. Delaney Corridor, a two-story constructing subsequent to a county jail, previously operated as a midway home.

In February, ICE awarded The Geo Group Inc. a 15-year contract to run the Newark detention heart. Geo valued the contract at $1 billion, an unusually lengthy and huge settlement for ICE. The announcement was a part of President Donald Trump’s plans to extend detention beds nationwide this 12 months. CEO David Donahue stated the power started the consumption course of Might 1.

New Jersey Interim District Lawyer Reacts To Mayor’s Arrest

Alina Habba is the interim U.S. lawyer for New Jersey. Habba stated on the social platform X that Baraka dedicated trespass and ignored warnings from Homeland Safety personnel to go away Delaney Corridor, a detention facility run by personal jail operator Geo Group. Habba stated Baraka had “chosen to ignore the regulation” and confirmed he was taken into custody. “Nobody is above the regulation,” she added.

The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, dedicated trespass and ignored a number of warnings from Homeland Safety Investigations to take away himself from the ICE detention heart in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon. He has willingly chosen to ignore the regulation. That won’t stand on this…

— Alina Habba (@AlinaHabba) Might 9, 2025

Related Press employees Jake Offenhartz, Claudia Lauer, and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.