Newark Mayor Ras Baraka released Friday night after arrest outside ICE Detention Center

Baraka was arrested after he tried to participate in an oversight tour of the ICE facility with three members of Congress. He has disputed whether the Newark facility has proper permit approvals.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested by federal agents on Friday afternoon outside a newly opened Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility after attempting to join a congressional delegation for an inspection of the Newark site. 

Shortly after 8 p.m., a judge issued an order for his release.

“We did nothing wrong,” Baraka said, urging supporters to go home.

Baraka’s arrest sparked widespread condemnation from state leaders, civil rights advocates, and fellow lawmakers who say the incident represents a breach of constitutional rights and a misuse of federal power.

Baraka, who is also a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was taken into custody by federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations after he was denied entry to Delaney Hall, a private immigration detention facility operated by GEO Group under a 15-year, $1 billion federal contract. The mayor had joined Democratic U.S. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver for their oversight tour of the facility.

Baraka’s arrest occurred shortly after he was denied entry to the facility. Video footage showed agents in military-style uniforms detaining him in a public driveway outside the gates where protesters and reporters had gathered.

The claims

Federal officials said Baraka was trespassing. Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, a former attorney for Donald Trump who was recently appointed on an interim basis, issued a statement after the arrest.

“The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center,” 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.”

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, called the oversight visit “a bizarre political stunt” and accused Watson Coleman and Menendez of having “stormed the gate” of the facility and holed up in a guard shack. According to a DHS press release the site holds “murderers, rapists, suspected terrorists, and gang members.”

McLaughlin claimed Delaney Hall had passed all required inspections and permitting processes. “The allegations made by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the proper permitting are false,” she said. “We have valid permits, and inspections for plumbing, electricity, and fire codes have been cleared.”

A controversial facility

Newark officials, however, maintain that the facility opened May 1 without obtaining a certificate of occupancy or required local safety approvals. The city has challenged the site’s legality in federal court for weeks.

Baraka attempted to inspect the site earlier in the week, arriving at dawn on Tuesday with city inspectors. He returned on Wednesday but was again denied entry.

Newark officials contend that the GEO Group, the facility’s private operator, violated municipal ordinances. “Delaney Hall does not have a valid certificate of occupancy. That alone means it should not be operating,” a city spokesperson said Friday. “Mayor Baraka was acting within his duties to ensure compliance with local law.”

The arrest

The confrontation unfolded as Baraka stood outside the entrance, near the facility’s security checkpoint. Protesters captured video showing the mayor speaking calmly with others, including Menendez, who warned him that federal agents were considering arresting him.

“I’m not on their property,” Baraka said. “They can’t come out on the street and arrest me.”

Shortly after, the masked agents in tactical gear descended and detained the mayor as his supporters and Watson Colman encircled him, trying to protect him. 

Baraka was taken to the ICE field office at 620 Frelinghuysen Ave. As news of his arrest spread, more than 200 supporters gathered in the rain outside the facility, demanding his release.

Congressional presence and federal pushback

The three congressional representatives who came to Delaney Hall for an oversight visit were allowed to enter the detention center. Federal officials later claimed their presence was unauthorized.

McLaughlin said their presence put the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk. “Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated it,” McLaughlin said.

Watson Coleman denied the characterization that she and her colleagues stormed the gates. The petite 80-year-old Ewing resident said she and her colleagues visited the facility to exercise their oversight authority as Members of Congress. 

“Contrary to a press statement put out by DHS we did not ‘storm’ the detention center. The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn’t even correctly count the number of representatives present,” Watson Coleman said. “We were exercising our legal oversight function as we have done at the Elizabeth Detention Center without incident.”

She said reopening Delaney Hall won’t make the country safer and won’t create an immigration system that is fair and secure for all families.

“Private Prison companies like GEO Group create a perverse incentive to increase incarceration to increase corporate profits. It’s no accident that GEO Group was the first corporation to max out donations to Trump’s Super PAC, to the tune of $500,000 dollars. And they’re being rewarded with huge contracts to imprison immigrants like we’re seeing here at Delaney,” Watson Coleman said. “New Jerseyans don’t want more private prisons just to increase shareholder income at the expense of taxpayers. They want a fair and secure immigration system that reflects our values and respects our Constitution.”

Public outcry

The arrest drew immediate criticism from elected officials, advocacy groups, and civil rights organizations.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said the arrest was deeply troubling.

“Arresting public officials for peacefully protesting violates the most basic principles of our democracy,” Platkin said in a written statement. “People peacefully exercising their right to free speech and assembly should never be targeted for opposing the government’s policies.”

Platkin emphasized that no state or local law enforcement agency was involved in the arrest. His office is defending a New Jersey law that bans private immigration detention facilities — a law now in legal limbo following a federal appeals court challenge.

Gov. Phil Murphy also expressed outrage over the arrest.

“Over the past few months, Mayor Baraka, as well as advocates, faith leaders, and members of our congressional delegation, have protested the opening of a private immigration detention center in the city of Newark. Four years ago, I was proud to sign a law banning private immigration detention centers in New Jersey. And just last week, my administration was leading the fight to defend that law before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Murphy said in a prepared statement. “Mayor Baraka is an exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable neighbors.”

The ACLU of New Jersey called the incident “a shameful escalation” by the Trump administration.

“Mayor Baraka was at Delaney Hall to join a tour of the detention facility with a congressional delegation as part of their authorized oversight responsibilities. Mayor Baraka – and lawmakers across New Jersey and the country – are being targeted by the Trump administration for refusing to be complicit with its ongoing violations of due process,” said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha. “Mayor Baraka must be immediately released from custody, and the Trump administration must end its assault on the fundamental rights at the core of our democracy.”

A Broader battle over immigration policy

Delaney Hall, located near Newark Liberty International Airport, is viewed by immigration activists and critics as a critical node in the Trump administration’s effort to ramp up deportations. The facility can house up to 1,000 detainees and began accepting transfers last week.

“What we saw today at Delaney Hall goes beyond politics. It is about right and wrong. And that was wrong. To see Mayor Baraka taken out in cuffs because he wants to see with his own eyes – as Mayor of Newark, the conditions in Delay Hall – that was wrong,” fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sean Spiller said in a written statement.

“As I have said many times over the past months, the Trump administration isn’t coming for someone else, they are coming for all of us. As an immigrant, I can see myself in the people being detained, and I would want to know people were looking out for me,” Spiller said.
“They can try to pick us off one at a time, but we won’t let them. I’ll be at Delaney Hall tomorrow morning, and I call on all the other candidates in this race to join me in standing together for justice.”

A representative for New Jersey Policy Perspective called for an independent investigation into Baraka’s arrest and Delaney Hall’s permitting status.

“This incident underscores longstanding concerns about the privatization of immigration enforcement and the dangerous lack of accountability that comes with it,” said NJPP President Nicole Rodriguez. “Privatization removes key tools for elected officials and communities to ensure accountability.”

Political implications

Baraka is currently running for governor and has centered his campaign on community empowerment, police accountability, and economic justice. His campaign issued a brief statement Friday afternoon confirming his arrest.

Kabir Moss, spokesperson for the Baraka campaign, said the arrest stemmed from “alleged trespassing.” As of Friday evening, no official charges had been publicly confirmed.

Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Andy Kim, both Democrats, condemned the arrest.

“As mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka has a responsibility to ensure that facilities operating in the city are adhering to laws that protect the safety and well-being of occupants and residents. This incident is disturbing, unnecessary, and indicative of tactics that are undermining the safety and security of our communities, not adding to it. Law enforcement officers should have de-escalated this situation. Mayor Baraka should be immediately released,” Booker said. “Moreover, the Trump administration’s decision to reopen Delaney Hall, a private, for-profit prison in our community, should never have gone forward. New Jersey deserves better, and the Trump administration continues to take actions to undermine the well-being of our residents.”

Kim said he had spoken with federal officials and was pressing for Baraka’s release.

“Mayor Baraka’s arrest was shocking,“ Kim wrote on social media. “I called ICE leadership, who relayed that the mayor was arrested for trespassing. However, video clearly shows the mayor outside the gates of Delaney Hall facility when he was arrested. I’ve reached out to DHS Secretary directly and am in touch with the members of Congress who conducted the oversight inspection.”

Echoes of history

Richard T. Smith, president of the NAACP New Jersey State Conference, framed the arrest as part of a broader struggle for civil rights.

“It’s a terrible day when the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city is arrested by a federal government that doesn’t understand due process,” Smith said. “To arrest individuals for peaceful protest echoes the oppressive tactics used against civil rights activists in the 1950s and ’60s.”

Smith also criticized the rough handling of Watson Coleman during the incident.

Ongoing protests

By Friday evening, protesters were calling for further demonstrations and demanding transparency about Delaney Hall’s operations.

On social media, Steve Fulop, a gubernatorial candidate and mayor of Jersey City, the state’s second-largest city, also criticized the federal response.

“Regardless of your views on ICE, the law is the law,” Fulop said. “If Delaney Hall doesn’t have proper local authorization, Mayor Baraka had every reason to be there and every right to demand accountability. This is a dangerous precedent.”

Reporter Steve Janoski contributed to this report.