Newark Mayor Ras Baraka returns to ICE detention center days after arrest

David Matthews, New York Daily News on May 13, 2025

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Newark Mayor Ras Baraka returned to the gates of an ICE detention center days after he was arrested for allegedly trespassing at the same facility.

Baraka, a Democrat running for New Jersey governor, was turned away shortly after he arrived outside Delaney Hall on Tuesday. He was blocked from getting within 20 feet of the entrance by eight armed ICE officers, two SUVs and yellow barriers, according to NJ Advance Media.

The mayor was arrested last Friday after witnesses said he attempted to enter the facility alongside New Jersey Reps. Robert Menendez, Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver, who were there for a congressional oversight visit.

“Now they won’t even let us close to the gate,” Baraka said Tuesday.

The mayor has denied he trespassed in the first place. Video of the incident shows Baraka being told he can’t go inside the facility because he’s “not a Congress member.” He turns around and joins protesters in a public area on the street before several ICE officers surround and handcuff him, then drag him past the gate.

Baraka was driven away in an unmarked car and released from detention about five hours later.

Rep. Watson Coleman accused the Department of Homeland Security of being intentionally misleading with the information they released in wake of Baraka’s arrest. The mayor on Saturday said he was “shocked by all the lies” told about the incident.

Baraka is set to appear in federal court on Thursday for a hearing on the trespassing charge. He said he plans to plead not guilty.

The mayor has been clear in his opposition to the privately run detention center opening in Newark. ICE announced a 15-year contract with the Geo Group to run the facility in February, and Baraka has accused the group of “defying city ordinances.”

Newark Fire Official Gwendolyn Saleem has attempted multiple times since last week to serve summonses at Delaney Hall for alleged violations of state fire safety laws, but no one has accepted the paperwork, according to NJ Advance Media. In response, she clipped the summonses onto a chain link fence near the gate.

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