Newark mayor returns to immigration detention center days after trespassing arrest
NEWARK N J AP Newark Mayor Ras Baraka briefly returned Tuesday to the gates of the federal immigration detention center where he was arrested last week on trespassing charges Baraka a Democrat running for governor in the June primary was turned away from Delaney Hall the facility where he was arrested Friday He departed and stayed about a half hour away from the building according to NJ com Eyewitnesses noted the arrest last week came after Baraka attempted to join three members of New Jersey s congressional delegation Reps Robert Menendez LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman in attempting to enter the facility Related Articles Ken Griffin will loan his copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights so the residents can see them Extreme heat will make it feel more like August than May for Texas parts of southeastern US States push to combat human trafficking amid federal funding cuts About in US adults follow women s sports a new AP-NORC poll finds Campus protests flare on a smaller scale than last spring but with higher stakes Baraka an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump s immigration crackdown and vocal opponent of the facility s opening faces a court hearing on the trespassing charge on Thursday He has denied the trespassing charge It wasn t at once clear how Baraka s appearance at the gates Tuesday differed from Friday when he was arrested He denied being on the detention facility s property which is run by private prison operator Geo Group Alina Habba interim U S attorney for New Jersey announced on the social platform X that Baraka trespassed there again In video of the Friday altercation shared with The Associated Press a federal official in a jacket with the logo of the Homeland Shield Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not enter the facility because you are not a Congress member Baraka then left the secure area rejoining protesters on the population side of the gate Video exhibited him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit who announced They re talking about coming back to arrest you I m not on their property They can t come out on the street and arrest me Baraka replied Minutes later several ICE agents specific wearing face coverings surrounded him and others on the community side As protesters cried out Shame Baraka was dragged back through the gate in handcuffs Delaney Hall is a two-story building next to a county prison and formerly operated as a halfway house In February ICE awarded a -year contract to The Geo Group Inc to run the detention center Geo valued the contract at billion in an unusually long and large agreement for ICE
