Ice Releases New Jersey Mayor Arrested At Protest With Lawmakers

NEWARK, New Jersey — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was released from custody Friday evening following a dramatic day where federal authorities got into a scrum with three members of Congress and arrested him.

Baraka, who is also a Democratic candidate for governor, was released shortly before 8 p.m. from a Homeland Security field office in his own city after scores of sympathizers — including several members of Congress, numerous New Jersey lawmakers and two candidates for mayor of New York City, all Democrats — had gathered to protest Baraka’s arrest and chant for his release.

Baraka has been charged with trespassing earlier in the day at Delaney Hall, a new immigration detention facility in another part of town. Standing on the sidewalk by the field office after being released, Baraka gave a fiery speech — and doubled down on his pro-immigrant rhetoric.

Baraka got biblical, saying his approach to accepting immigrants was akin to religious philosophies to accept and care for those in need, while blasting the religious right.

“I’m doing what your religious leaders told you to do,” he said. “And all of these people in the Christian right, with this mean-spiritedness, that makes them believe they are more righteous than everyone else — there’s a special place in hell for all of you.”

Charging documents filed in U.S. District Court accused the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city of entering and unlawfully remaining at Delaney Hall. He was charged with trespassing under a federal law that allows charges for state law crimes allegedly committed on federal property. The offense would carry the same maximum punishment under state law: up to 30 days in jail and a fine of $500.

According to court records, Baraka made an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Espinosa and appears to have made it by videoconference at about 7:15 p.m. Friday, while at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility he was taken to. No plea was entered and Baraka was released on an unsecured bond with no dollar value, the records indicate. Another hearing was set for May 15.

A federal court proceeding at that hour of the evening is unusual. Many defendants arrested by federal authorities on a Friday don’t appear in court until Monday.

Baraka was represented at the hearing by Newark defense attorney Raymond Brown. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Baraka said afterward that he couldn’t speak about the case and that staff from “Homeland Security treated me pretty well.”

“But the reality is this: I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.

The interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, posted on social media earlier in the day that Baraka had “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon.”

The arrest has catapulted Baraka to national prominence as he is seeking to be the state’s next governor. His arrest has already become a partisan flashpoint, with Republicans and conservative media claiming he and the members of Congress had stormed the facility.

But when a POLITICO reporter showed up before the arrest, Baraka was standing inside the facility’s fence line in a parking lot for an extended period of time, while three members of Congress — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver, all New Jersey Democrats — were inside trying to inspect the facility.

It is unclear how Baraka got inside the fence, but he was eventually asked to leave and, though he appeared reluctant, he did leave that area. Then he stood on the other side of the fence in a parking lot with members of the media and protesters who had gathered earlier at the detention facility ahead of what was expected to be a press conference about the detention center, which is expected to play a major role in its Northeast immigration operations.

Then federal authorities came back out to arrest Baraka, setting off a scrum where he was handcuffed and the three members of Congress said they were variously manhandled, roughed up and assaulted.

Baraka’s eight-minute address after being released went far beyond his hometown. He spoke of his family’s experiences fleeing the Jim Crow South for Newark and blasted President Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back birthright citizenship and said the president disregarded the courts.

“What’s happening now in this country, everybody should be scared of. This authoritarianism that’s taking place is legal authoritarianism,” Baraka said.

As Baraka left the facility for the day, his throngs of supporters chanted “Ras for governor.”