Ras Baraka, the Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, was arrested on Friday while joining members of Congress at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, according to interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba.
Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon. … He has been taken into custody,” Habba claimed on X.
Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark confronts ICE agents at a demonstration outside an immigrant detention centre in Elizabeth, New Jersey May 7, 2025.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
No federal charges have been filed yet.
A spokesperson for Baraka’s 2025 gubernatorial campaign confirmed in a statement, separately, that Baraka “was arrested and detained by ICE…
“We are actively monitoring and will provide more details as they become available,” the spokesperson said.
Baraka and three members of the Congressional delegation for New Jersey – Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Rob Menendez, Jr. – had gone to the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility to conduct oversight, according to Watson Coleman and McIver.
The elected officials have been protesting outside of the facility for the last few days.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka joins protesters outside of Delaney Hall, a recently re-opened immigration detention center, in Newark, N.J., May 7, 2025.
Seth Wenig/AP
“We’ve heard stories of what it’s like in other ICE prisons. We’re exercising our oversight authority to see for ourselves,” Watson Coleman wrote in a post on Friday.
McIver wrote, “As congressional members, we have the power to conduct oversight. That’s what we’re here to do.”
Habba, alleged in a phone interview on Fox News on Friday afternoon, Baraka was inside the facility, warned multiple times that he would be arrested, and refused to leave. He was then placed under arrest when he left the facility, Habba told Fox News.
White House Presidential Counselor Alina Habba delivers remarks before being sworn in as the interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey in the Oval Office at the White House, March 28, 2025.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“When you break the law, there’s no grandstanding that will help you. Period, the end,” she told the network.
The city of Newark had alleged that the Delaney Hall detention facility was opened without proper safety protocols.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a press release Friday that the facility, which is a privately-operated facility that ICE contracts with to hold migrants, has proper permitting, and said that undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crimes are being held there.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, in a statement Friday afternoon, criticized Baraka’s arrest.
“Mayor Baraka is an exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable neighbors. I am calling for his immediate release by federal law enforcement,” he wrote.
Assistant Secretary Dept. of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin alleged without details that the elected were trying to “storm” the facility.
“Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
