Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, was handcuffed and arrested Friday outside an ICE detention center where he was protesting with several members of Congress. The arrest followed an altercation among the officials, officers, and other protesters in the parking lot, Politico reports. Baraka, whose administration tried to keep the center from reopening recently, apparently was allowed inside a fenced parking lot and then told to leave as the officials tried to take a tour. Interim US Attorney Alina Habba announced the arrest in a post.
The mayor trespassed "and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center," Habba wrote. "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." A Homeland Security official called the protest a "bizarre political stunt" and said protesters and officials had broken into the center and "holed up in a guard shack." Baraka led a protest at the site on Tuesday, per the New York Times, and returned the next two days seeking access.
"What we experienced was the weaponization, of the abuse of power, that this administration has given ICE to do," said Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who was there with Reps. Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver, per Politico. "ICE is out of control." McIver, whose represents Newark in the House, said the three waited about two hours to be admitted for a "simple oversight visit." Baraka had previously called on other Democrats to take action to oppose the opening of the 1,000-bed detention center. (More Newark stories.)
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