SOUNDS AWFULLY INSURRECTION-Y TO ME: Democratic Congress members storm ICE facility gates, clash with federal officials in NJ.
Three members of Congress, as well as Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, tried storming through the gates of the 1,000-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in New Jersey on Friday.
A heated argument broke out when federal officials blocked their entry, according to Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It continued even after Baraka returned to the public side of the gates.
“There was yelling and pushing,” Martinez said. “Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put Baraka in handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car.”
Baraka has previously pushed back against the construction and opening of the ICE detention center, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.
Baraka got the photo op he was seeking: Newark mayor arrested at ICE detention center amid ‘yelling and pushing.’
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a federal immigration detention center where he has been protesting its opening this week, a federal prosecutor said.
Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka committed trespass and ignored warnings from Homeland Security personnel to leave Delaney Hall, a detention facility run by private prison operator GEO Group.
Habba said Baraka had “chosen to disregard the law” and added that he was taken into custody.
Baraka, a Democrat who is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has embraced the fight with the Trump administration over illegal immigration.
He has aggressively pushed back against the construction and opening of the 1,000-bed detention center, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.
Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join a scheduled tour of the facility with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Speaking of McIver:
Rep. LaMonica McIver (red jacket) shouts in the faces of ICE officers pic.twitter.com/dlRy9MWEH6
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 9, 2025
UPDATE: Great moments in amnesia:
MORE: Heh, indeed:
