Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested on Friday for trespassing at an ICE holding facility, is known as a far-left progressive who has a record of associating with controversial celebrities.
Baraka, who is currently one of the top Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor, was arrested by Homeland Security personnel outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center for his involvement in what the DHS called a “beyond bizarre political stunt.”
The prison currently holds alleged killers, MS-13 gang members and accused child rapists, among other criminal offenders.
U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced that Baraka, one of the leading Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor, was arrested on Friday for his involvement in the incident.
“The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon,” said Habba. “He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”
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According to Baraka’s campaign website, if elected governor he envisions working to “deconstruct the state budget and reassemble with equity as our north star; judging every decision as either a step towards equity or a step towards inequity.”
Besides pushing these controversial “equity” policies, Baraka has been criticized for having a record of associating with questionable characters, including Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and radical antisemitic preacher Louis Farrakhan.
When he was first running for mayor in 2014, Baraka was endorsed by P. Diddy. He posted about the endorsement on Facebook and in 2015 posted another picture of himself with the former rapper, saying, “great to see see you [P. Diddy] … you’re welcome here anytime!”
Baraka has also been caught on video applauding and embracing Farrakhan after an address in which the Nation of Islam preacher called White people “demons” and encouraged violence as retribution.
The video – taken in 2004 at a Newark church – shows Baraka introducing Farrakhan to the congregation by calling him a major personal inspiration and “the leader of every Black person.”
During the speech, which was first reported on by the New York Post, Baraka stood to give Farrakhan a standing ovation two times. The first is after Farrakhan denounces the non-violent protests of the civil rights movement, saying, “We didn’t believe in no non-violence. The cracker hit you on your jaw, you break his neck. That’s the way we think.”
Baraka applauds again after Farrakhan demonizes White people as “the enemy.”
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Local outlet Insider NJ reported that a spokesperson for Baraka’s campaign confirmed the arrest, saying that he “was arrested and detained by ICE” and that he was being transported to the Homeland Security Investigations Newark field office.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that Reps. Rob Menendez Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver, all New Jersey Democrats, were also involved in the incident and rushed through the facility’s gates, demanding they be allowed to conduct an “oversight visit.”
The lawmakers were held up at the first checkpoint.
Baraka, who has been protesting the facility’s opening for months, was a regular presence at protests outside the building throughout the week.
Baraka has said that using Delaney Hall for processing people in the country illegally goes against state and local law, leading the city to file a lawsuit in the Essex County Superior Court at the end of March.
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In a press conference on Monday, Baraka said that GEO Group, the private company running the prison, is “following the pattern of the president of the United States who believes that he can just do what he wants to do and obscure the laws, national and constitutional laws, and they think they can do the same thing in the state of New Jersey and in Newark.”
Commenting on the arrest, New Jersey Sen. Jon Bramnick, a GOP gubernatorial candidate, told Fox News that “it doesn’t really surprise me because he’s been fighting the opening of Delaney Hall since it opened” and that the mayor “wasn’t very pleased with ICE taking over Delaney Hall.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who is also a candidate for governor, condemned the arrest, calling it an “absolute outrage.”
Sherill said that Baraka “needs to be released immediately.”
Another Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Steven Fulop, who is mayor of Jersey City, also condemned the arrest, saying, “We’re watching lines get crossed in real time” and that “this is a dangerous precedent.”
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Meanwhile, Jack Ciattarelli, another GOP candidate for New Jersey governor, called Baraka’s actions a “cheap publicity stunt.”
“In Newark, the airport is in the midst of an unprecedented & dangerous meltdown, the public schools are failing students & families, and there is crime in the streets every day. And yet its Mayor and leading Democrat candidate for Governor, [Ras Baraka], is busy shilling for illegal Immigrants at an ICE detention center with a cheap publicity stunt. Shameful,” he posted on X.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Cameron Arcand and Fox News Channel’s Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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