Alina Habba explains why the mayor of Sanctuary City was arrested after breaking into an ICE facility.

After reportedly trespassing on federal property, Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark and the current Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey. Was taken into custody on Friday outside an ICE detenti

After reportedly trespassing on federal property, Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark and the current Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey.

Was taken into custody on Friday outside an ICE detention center in Newark.

Baraka has joined a number of Democratic members of Congress in calling for the closing of the Delaney Hall detention center, where the arrest took place.

 

A Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officer was seen escorting Baraka away in handcuffs in a video that was published on X shortly after 3 p.m.

 

Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention [facility] in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon.”

 

According to U.S. Attorney Alina Habba for the District of New Jersey. Minutes after the video went viral, Habba posted on X to announce the arrest, saying, “He has voluntarily chosen to disregard the law.”

In this state, that won’t stand. He has been placed under arrest. “NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,” she continued.

The demonstration was a part of a continuing disagreement about the facility’s safety compliance and legality.

 

Baraka has stated in public that the plant was reopened in contravention of local rules and without the required approvals.

 

On Tuesday, the day the center reopened, he had previously visited and said that ICE officials had denied Newark fire inspectors access to the facility in spite of a judge’s order allowing the city to perform a safety check.

Representatives LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez, and Bonnie Watson Coleman participated in the march on Friday.


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“An ICE prison in Newark that opened without permission from the city & in violation of local ordinances,” Coleman wrote on X.

According to her, the group’s purpose was to use its oversight power and conduct an in-person assessment of the situation.

In an interview with Martha MacCallum of Fox News, Habba, who was nominated by President Donald Trump in March.

Claimed that Baraka “was put under arrest inside the facility, walked out when he was told he was under arrest, and then was cuffed.”

“HSI did absolutely everything correct,” she underlined. Grandstanding will not help you when you breach the law. The end, period.

Baraka has been an outspoken opponent of the prison’s procedures, saying that a previous inspection found infractions that put facility employees, detainees, and first responders in danger.

Fire inspectors cited Delaney Hall for three code infractions, according to Newark officials. In response, Baraka promised to demonstrate at the establishment every day until it is closed.

In comments cited by local media earlier this week, Baraka stated, “We want them to follow our rules, follow our laws.”

 

As of Friday night, neither Baraka’s campaign nor his attorneys had made any announcements about their intentions to contest the arrest.

The event has reignited discussions over local governments’ power to control or prohibit federal immigration centers operating within their borders.