Newark Mayor Las Barakha speaks to the media near Ice Agent on May 7, 2025, at a demonstration outside the Immigration Detention Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
Newark Mayor Las Baraka was arrested Friday by federal authorities for allegedly trespassing at his city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center.
Baraka was caught in handcuffs for a while after demanding that she pass through the security gates of the Delaney Hall Ice Facility, where a group of protesters and several members of the state’s council cooperative gather.
The Democratic administration filed a lawsuit in late March to block the opening of detention facilities, alleging that its operators were unable to obtain appropriate permission and violated the city code.
An interim US lawyer for New Jersey’s Alina Haba said on Friday that Baraka “had committed a trespass and ignored multiple warnings.”
“He was willing to ignore the law. It’s not standing in this state. He was taken into custody,” Haba, former defense attorney for President Donald Trump, wrote to X.
However, MP Lamonica Mciver, Dn.J., who witnessed the arrest, said Baraka “had nothing wrong.”
Baraka, who is running for governor of New Jersey, was released without detention Friday evening after appearing through video conference before a federal magistrate. He was charged with misdemeanor counts of trespassing.
The mayor is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court next Thursday for a preliminary hearing.
Baraka said in an interview with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki that “based on the accusations they found, they charged me.”
“We were actually allowed on property in the first place,” Baraka said.
“You know, nothing happened for a long time. It’s at least an hour or so, you know. And after they finally told us to leave, I told him I was leaving, they came outside the gate and arrested me,” he said.
“They obviously targeted me,” Baraka said. “I wasn’t the only one there. They came straight to me and tried to arrest me.”
Mayor Rasborakka of Newark in handcuffs outside the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey on May 9, 2025.
Courtesy: Mayor Newark’s Office
Speaking to reporters after the incident, McQuiver told the officer that Baraka had entered the gate of Delaney Hall and “waited for us to come out because we were monitoring.” Two other US House Democrats from New Jersey, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, were also at the facility at the time.
“They asked him to leave. He left the gate,” McQuiber said.
The ICE officer “and then came out with a pack,” she said, “I decided that he was inside and should still be arrested.”
They then arrested the mayor. “He had already stepped out of their property from behind the gate,” the lawmaker said.
“What we see here is mean and we should all be mad.”
A video posted to X by News12NJ reporter Amanda Lee shows a physical altercation between a law enforcement officer and apparent protesters through the facility’s security gates.
A Watson Coleman spokesman told NBC News that three House members were “escorted by Delaney Hall in Delaney Hall.”
Lawmakers said they were there to oversee the facility in light of reporting on other ice centres that have become political flashpoints amid Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts.
But Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin was called “a strange political stunt” by a group of protesters, including elected officials, in a statement to NBC.
McLaughlin said the group “raided the gate and broke into detention facilities,” as detainee buses entered the security gate.
Protesters “drilled holes in Guard Shack, the first security checkpoint,” she said.
“If these members had requested tours, they would have encouraged tours of the facility. This is an evolving situation,” she added.
Watson Coleman refused to characterize it.
“Contrary to the press conference issued by the DHS, we did not ‘raid’ the detention center,” Watson Coleman said.
She called a DHS spokesperson “unfamiliar with the facts” and pointed out that McLaughlin’s statement falsely claimed that there were only two House members at the facility.
Baraka’s arrest was quickly condemned by Democratic politicians and advocacy groups.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he was “enthussed” and called for Baraka’s immediate release.
Murad Awaude, president of the New York Immigration Union, called the “reckless and irresponsible” response to elected officials’ surveillance efforts arrested.
“We request the immediate release of Mayor Baraka and require that he be held liable for the person responsible for this decision,” Awawdeh said.
