By Edith Loyola 
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat, was arrested on Friday while participating in a protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark, New Jersey. The incident was confirmed by Alina Habba, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, who stated that Baraka had been detained after repeatedly ignoring warnings from Homeland Security Investigations agents.
In a message posted on the platform X (formerly Twitter), Habba wrote, “Baraka committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark this afternoon. He has been taken into custody.” This arrest took place at Delaney Hall, a facility managed by the private prison company GEO Group, which recently signed a 15-year contract with ICE valued at approximately $1 billion. This agreement stands as one of the largest private contracts ever awarded for immigration detention operations in the United States.
According to witnesses present at the scene, the arrest occurred after Baraka attempted to join a scheduled tour of the facility alongside three members of Congress: Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman. When federal officials blocked his entry, a heated exchange ensued. Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, described the tense moments that followed, noting that the confrontation continued even after Baraka returned to the public side of the facility’s gates.
“There was shouting and pushing,” Martinez recalled, adding, “then the officers quickly surrounded Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground, handcuffed the mayor, and placed him in an unmarked vehicle.”
However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offered a different version of the events. In an official statement, the agency denied that the congressional members had formally requested a tour of the facility, as some protesters claimed. Additionally, the DHS asserted that as a bus carrying detainees approached the center, “a group of protesters, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gates and broke into the detention facility.”
In this context, Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described the incident as “a political stunt beyond the absurd” and emphasized that “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities.” McLaughlin further stated that had a formal request been made, a tour would have been facilitated without issue.
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This confrontation is part of a broader conflict. Baraka, who is also a candidate for governor seeking to succeed term-limited Governor Phil Murphy, has been a vocal critic of the use of private prisons for immigrant detention. He has also raised concerns about the legality of the permits for the construction of the facility, pointing to potential regulatory violations. This position has put him at odds with the Trump administration, which has aggressively expanded the capacity of ICE detention facilities across the country.
Video footage obtained by the Associated Press captures a federal officer telling Baraka that he could not join the tour because “you are not a member of Congress.” Moments later, Baraka was detained despite being on the public side of the gates, as protesters nearby shouted “Shame!”
Neither the mayor’s communications office nor his gubernatorial campaign responded immediately to requests for comment. However, Kabir Moss, a spokesperson for Baraka’s campaign, stated, “We are actively monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they become available.”
Meanwhile, GEO Group, the company that operates Delaney Hall, recently informed its investors that it expects to generate more than $60 million in annual revenue from this contract. The facility began receiving detainees on May 1, expanding the company’s total ICE detention capacity from approximately 20,000 to 23,000 beds, according to statements made by its CEO, David Donahue.
In response to the ongoing criticism, DHS has maintained that the facility has all the necessary permits and has passed required inspections, rejecting Baraka’s claims of potential regulatory violations.