Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Saturday denied trespassing at a new federal immigration detention center during a confrontation that led to his arrest while the Democrat was at the facility with three members of Congress. Baraka, who has been protesting the center’s opening this week, was released around 8 pm Friday night after spending several hours in custody. He was accused of trespassing and ignoring warnings to leave the Delaney Hall facility. Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for public affairs with the Department of Homeland Security, said in an interview with CNN on Saturday that the investigation was ongoing, and the department also released more video of the confrontation.
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McLaughlin even accused Baraka, who is seeking his party’s nomination for chancellor, of playing “political activities. “” I’m shocked by all the falsehoods that were told around,” Baraka said, who said he had been invited there for a press conference. ” No one else arrested, I was invited in therefore they arrested me on the road. ” Baraka, who is running to achieve term-limited Gov Phil Murphy, has embraced the battle with the Trump presidency over illegal immigration. He has violently pushed up against the building and launching of the 1,000-bed detention facility, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit problems. Alina Habba, time US attorney for New Jersey, said on the social system X that Baraka trespassed at the confinement center, which is run by private jail controller Geo Group. Habba said Baraka had” chosen to disregard the law. ” Video of the incident showed that Baraka was arrested after returning to the people side of the gate to the hospital. Testimony describe a heated debate Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join three people of New Jersey’s congressional group, Representatives Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, in attempting to enter the hospital. When federal authorities blocked his passage, a heated discussion broke out, according to Viri Martinez, an advocate with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It continued yet after Baraka returned to the people side of the walls. ” There was yelling and pushing,” Martinez said. ” Then the soldiers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the administrators to the surface. They put Baraka in cuffs and put him in an unknown vehicle. ” The Department of Homeland Security said in a speech that the legislators had never asked for a journey of Delaney Hall, which the company said it would have facilitated. The department said that as a vehicle carrying prisoners was entering in the day” a group of protest, including two people of the US House of Representatives, stormed the wall and broke into the confinement service. ” Ned Cooper, a spokeswoman for Watson Coleman, said the three legislators went that uninvited because they planned to check it, not taking a scheduled visit. ” Contrary to a press statement put out by DHS we did not’storm’ the detention center,” Watson Coleman said in a statement. ” The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn’t even correctly count the number of Representatives present. We were exercising our legal oversight function as we have done at the Elizabeth Detention Center without incident. ” Video shows the mayor standing on the public side of the gate In video of the altercation shared with The Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the logo of Homeland Security 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 public side of the gate. Video showed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit, who said:” 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, some wearing face coverings, surrounded him and others on the public side. As protesters cried out,” Shame,” Baraka was dragged back through the gate in handcuffs. Representative Menendez said in a statement that as members of Congress, they have the legal right to carry out oversight at DHS facilities without prior notice and have done so twice already this year. But on Friday,” Throughout every step of this visit, ICE attempted to intimidate everyone involved and impede our ability to conduct oversight. ” The detention center The two-story building is next to a county prison formerly operated as a halfway house. In February, ICE awarded a 15-year contract to The Geo Group Inc to run the detention center. Geo valued the contract at$ 1 billion, in an unusually long and large agreement for ICE. The announcement was part of President Donald Trump’s plans to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from a budget of about 41,000 beds this year. Baraka sued Geo soon after the deal was announced. Geo touted the Delaney Hall contract during an earnings call with shareholders Wednesday, with CEO David Donahue saying it was expected to generate more than$ 60 million a year in revenue. He said the facility began the intake process May 1. Hall said the activation of the center and another in Michigan would increase capacity under contract with ICE from around 20,000 beds to around 23,000. DHS said in its statement that the facility has the proper permits and inspections have been cleared.
