The mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was arrested on FridayA federal immigration detention centerWhere he protested his opening this week, a federal prosecutor said.
Alina Habba, an acting lawyer from the United States for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka had committed intrusions and ignored the warning staff to leave Delaney Hall, a detention center led by private operator Geo Group.
Habba said Baraka had “chosen to ignore the law” and added that he had been placed in police custody.
Baraka, a democrat who runs to succeed the governor limited to Phil Murphy terms, adopted the fight with the Trump administration on illegal immigration.
He aggressively postponed the construction and opening of the detention center for 1,000 beds, arguing that it should not be allowed to open due to construction permit problems.
Witnesses said that the arrest intervened after Baraka had tried to join three members of the delegation of the New Jersey Congress, representatives Robert Menendez, Lamonica Mciver and Bonnie Watson Coleman, trying to enter the installation.
When federal officials blocked his entry, an animated argument broke out, according to Viri Martinez, an activist from the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. He continued even after Baraka returned to the public side of the doors.
“There were howls and thrusts,” said Martinez. “Then the police invaded Baraka. They threw one of the organizers on the ground. They put Baraka handcuffed and put it in an unmarked car. ”
In a statement, the Ministry of Internal Security said that the legislators had not asked for a visit to the establishment, unlike the accounts of the witnesses. The ministry also said that for a bus transporting prisoners, “a group of demonstrators, including two members of the American House of Representatives, stormed the door and has burst into the detention center.”
Homeland Security did not answer specific questions as to whether the members of the room had a planned visit and why only the mayor was arrested.
The statement indicates that Menendez, Watson Coleman, and a certain number of demonstrators were currently “locked in a daycare” of the establishment.
The assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, was cited in the press release as the appellant “beyond a bizarre political blow” and saying that he endangered the security of agents and detainees.
“Congress members are not above the law and cannot illegally enter detention establishments. If these members had asked for a visit, we would have facilitated a visit,” said McLaughlin.
In the video of the altercation shared with the Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the logo of internal security surveys can be understood in Baraka that he could not join a visit to the establishment because “you are not a member of the congress”.
Baraka then left the secure area, joining the demonstrators on the public side of the door. The video has ahead of him speaking through the door of a man in costume, who said: “They talk about coming back to stop you.”
“I am not on their property. They cannot go out in the street and stop me,” replied Baraka.
A few minutes later, several ice agents, some carrying facial blankets, surrounded it as well as others on the public side. While the demonstrators shouted, “shame”, Baraka was brought back by the handcuffed security door.
“Ice staff have come out aggressively to stop and catch him,” said Julie Moreno, New Jersey's state captain of US families United. “It made no sense why they chose this moment to catch him while he was outside the doors.”
An email and a telephone message left with the mayor's communications office was not immediately answered on Friday afternoon. Kabir Moss, spokesperson for the Baraka governors' campaign, said: “We are actively monitoring and provide more details as they are available.”
The two -story building next to a county prison used to operate like a transitional house.
In February, Ice awarded a 15 -year contract to Geo Group Inc. to manage the Newark detention center. GEO estimated the contract at $ 1 billion, in an unusually long and important agreement for ice.
The announcement was one of President Donald Trump's plans to greatly increase the ownership beds of a budget of approximately 41,000 beds this year.
Baraka continued Geo Group shortly after the agreement was announced.
GEO praised the contract with Delaney Hall during his profit call with shareholders on Wednesday, CEO David Donahue saying that he had to generate more than $ 60 million per year of income. He said the installation started the admission process on May 1.
Hall said the activation of the installation and another in Michigan would increase the total capacity under contract with the ice of approximately 20,000 beds to around 23,000.
DHS said in his declaration that the installation had appropriate permits and inspections.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
