Newark mayor set to appear in court Thursday following arrest at ICE facility
The Department of Homeland Security claims that Baraka and several members of Congress stormed the facility and broke in.
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Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is set to appear in court this Thursday after being arrested for allegedly trespassing at the Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center in Newark last Friday.
The mayor spoke to News 12 New Jersey, which was there to witness the arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security claims that Baraka and several members of Congress stormed the facility and broke in.
“These people lie all the time. They're like habitual liars. They've been lying for a very long time and because people begin to believe these lies, they think they can get away with it,” Baraka said.
The mayor went back to the detention center Tuesday, ahead of a public speaking engagement with nationally recognized journalist Joy Reid.
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"He has a right, in fact, a fiduciary duty to the people who voted for him and the people in the city of Newark to inspect that facility and make sure the laws are not being violated,” Reid said.
"We try to gain entry so they can inspect, they tell us no, and we post the building. We've been doing that for weeks,” said Baraka.
Delaney Hall is run by the private company GEO Group, Inc.
Officials with the company released a statement ahead of Delaney Hall's reopening in February.
“Our company-owned Delaney Hall facility will play an important role in providing needed detention bedspace and support services for ICE in the Northeast. We are continuing to prepare for what we believe is an unprecedented opportunity to help the federal government,” executive chairman George C. Zoley wrote.
“[The GEO Group has] an old certificate of occupancy, it's about 20 years old. You need to reapply and come to us. They refused to do that,” Baraka said.
According to ICE, "This will help to pursue President [Donald] Trump's mandate to arrest, detain and remove illegal aliens from communities..."
ICE says the location near Newark Liberty International Airport will help streamline the detaining process.
"GEO Group and others are constantly looking for more places to house and cage immigrants. We've heard reports of county jails considering selling their facilities to the Geo Group here in New Jersey,” says Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
Baraka says he plans to discuss the legal terms of the property in federal court on Thursday.
News 12 has reached out to ICE and The GEO Group for comment on recent events at Delaney Hall.
