Baraka arrested outside Delaney Hall as battle with immigration authorities escalates

Update: Baraka was released at around 8 p.m., five hours after he was first arrested.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested today outside the Delaney Hall detention facility and remains in federal custody, a major escalation in the battles over the immigration detention facility in Newark.

Baraka, who previously tried to enter the facility earlier this week, joined Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), and LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) today for another attempt to, in their words, “conduct oversight at the facility.” The quartet arrived at around 1 p.m., and quickly faced roadblocks in their attempts to gain access to Delaney Hall, which is privately owned and recently began housing immigrant detainees under contract with the federal government.

According to the three representatives, after they had made it into the facility over the initial objections of Delaney Hall officials, Baraka was told to leave, and he did. (Members of Congress have official oversight powers over such federal facilities, and thus were subject to different rules.) They said that officials then followed Baraka to the gates of the facility, where a number of protesters had gathered, and arrested the mayor – also a current Democratic candidate for governor – after a brief scuffle.

“It was an act of intimidation not just to the mayor, not just to us, but to everyone who is watching,” Menendez said following Baraka’s arrest. “They feel no weight of the law. They feel no restraint on what they should be doing. And that was shown in broad daylight today.”

The Department of Homeland Security, however, claims that the four Democrats were the aggressors in the situation, saying that they had attempted to force their way in and were rebuffed.

“Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility.” McLaughin’s statement was followed by a list of alleged criminals the facility is holding.

(The three representatives later said any claims that they tried to “storm” the facility are untrue: “We were exercising our legal oversight function as we have done at the Elizabeth Detention Center without incident,” Watson Coleman said in a statement.)

As of now, Baraka remains detained; he was initially led back inside the facility before later being moved to a Customs and Border Protection office a few miles away on Newark’s Frelinghuysen Avenue. The three representatives have since followed him there, with intentions to stay there until they get information on his status.

Watson Coleman, Menendez, and McIver were ultimately granted access to the facility, as was their original goal. At a press conference following their visit, the trio said that the facility itself appeared clean and safe but accused immigration officials of manhandling them and “roughing [them] up,” and argued that what happened to them and to Baraka should make Americans fear the current presidential administration’s actions.

“If they can treat three members of Congress like that, just imagine how they treat people on the street every day, both people who are undocumented and citizens,” McIver said.

The 1,000-bed facility, by far the largest in New Jersey, has been a flashpoint in debates over immigration and deportation policies early on in President Donald Trump’s term. The Trump administration has argued that Delaney Hall and other facilities like it are necessary to enforce the country’s laws and keep citizens safe, but Democrats have strongly pushed back, claiming that federal officials are violating the law in a number of ways.

At Delaney Hall specifically, Baraka has said that the government has not obtained the necessary permits to house immigrants there, and the city of Newark filed a lawsuit last month attempting to block its usage. Undeterred, however, Immigration and Customs Enforcement began operations at the facility on May 1.

The issue of Baraka’s arrest has already begun to draw national attention; interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, a Trump appointee and a national political figure in her own right, broadcast Baraka’s arrest to her hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

“The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon,” Habba said. “He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”

Top New Jersey Democrats, meanwhile, have weighed in on Baraka’s side, saying that the mayor of the state’s largest city needs to be released at once.

“Mayor Baraka is an exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable neighbors,” Gov. Phil Murphy said. “I am calling for his immediate release by federal law enforcement.”

This is a developing story and has been steadily updated.