NEWARK, N.J.—More than 200 people from various labor and community organizations assembled in the rain Friday evening at an industrial area off Frelinghuysen Avenue near one of the country’s busiest airports to demand the immediate release of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
In a bid to intimidate local officials from opposing the Trump agenda of mass deportations, Baraka was snatched by Homeland Security agents just hours earlier while attempting to participate in an inspection process of Delaney Hall with N.J. Democratic Congressional Representatives LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez, Jr., and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
“The special agent in charge was sent there specifically to arrest me,” Baraka told CNN afterward. “There was only one person arrested that day, and that was me.”
The city insists the Geo Group corporation opened the for-profit prison in violation of the law and is operating without a certificate of occupancy and in spite of several fire code violations. The 1,100-bed private ICE prison is also being operated in violation of a 2021 state ban on private immigrant detention. That ban is currently being challenged in the courts.
“I’ve been there every day, serving them with the fire inspector and the health inspector … because they won’t allow the fire inspectors entry,” Baraka said. “I was there that morning. I was called back to come down for a press conference that the Congress people were having.
The mayor declared he has “a right to make sure that people are following our rules, our laws, and that there’s transparency, especially in a private facility.”
Members of Congress also have the legal right to inspect private properties that receive federal funding.
Immigrant rights and other community organizations have been accompanying Baraka as he served notices on the gates of the facility from the Fire Department demanding compliance with local ordinances. In videos filmed of Baraka’s arrest on Friday, the congressional delegation is seen seeking to prevent his arrest by federal agents, even physically standing between the mayor and the agents. Despite this, he was led away in handcuffs.
Community organizations like Make the Road N.J. issued an immediate call to protest the Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) field office where Baraka was being held, and grassroots activists quickly spread the word through their networks.
“We have had a call go out across the country—mayor solidarity, elected official solidarity, immigrant city solidarity—and look at how quickly we have been able to move,” Make the Road N.J. Director Nedia Morsy told People’s World, saying that is what is needed to free the 46,000 people being held in immigrant detention across the country.
Members and leaders of various unions were on the scene, including Communications Workers of America, SEIU-32BJ, the Rutgers’ professors’ union AAUP, and members of the teachers’ union in Newark. The coalition of labor, immigrant rights groups, and Newark community organizations were also joined by Baraka’s Alpha Phi Alpha. All were assembled to defend the mayor of the state’s largest city—and a leading candidate in New Jersey’s Democratic primary race for governor—from unprecedented federal overreach.
Ras Baraka’s mother, long-time political activist and community leader Amina Baraka, was also present, leading the crowd in a chant: “Black, Latin, Asian, white, the people must unite!”
Bystanders assembled outside the facility told People’s World that they intended to stay in the wet, overcast parking lot until Baraka was released. Newark Police rerouted traffic along Frelinghuysen Avenue, and a handful of federal agents huddled about a hundred yards away. A single drone hovered high in the air at a distance.
The crowd assembled was full of disciplined energy. “Free Mayor Baraka!” Lawrence Hamm of People’s Organization for Progress chanted through a bullhorn, and the people echoed his demand. High-energy music blared between chants and speakers, keeping the crowd engaged.
Edward Perkins, a community leader with the Anti-Violence Coalition in Jersey City, was there to protest the mayor’s arrest, telling People’s World he totally supports the Baraka’s efforts to hold the facility accountable.
“I disagree with what ICE is doing across the country. I am against going in and removing immigrants, undocumented persons. … I am totally against that. … I am for a policy that can deliver a pathway to citizenship for all migrants and all undocumented people who flee home for work, to escape from war, from all different sorts of things.
“The mayor does have a right to make sure that Delaney Hall is up to par,” Perkins said. “He was doing what he could, and I fully support him.”
“As a mother, I needed to be at the protest as an example to show my children that we must have the courage to act on our beliefs,” Joicki Floyd told People’s World. “As a teacher, I was obligated to be at the protest as a model of power for those who feel powerless because of socioeconomic disadvantages. As a union vice president, it is my responsibility to stand against injustice and fight for what is right. And, as a minister of the cloth, I was chosen to be a voice for the voiceless.”
Responding to the call from Make the Road, NYC mayoral candidates Brad Lander and later Zohran Mamdani arrived, taking the bullhorn to offer messages of solidarity. Together, Lander and Amina Baraka led the crowd in singing an adapted version of the Paul Robeson song “Let My People Go,” but not before the mayor’s mother pointed out that Ras Baraka was born on Paul Robeson’s birthday.
“It’s so important for people of good conscience to stand up,” NYC Comptroller Brad Lander told People’s World. “Mayor Baraka was defending the people of his city, doing just what a mayor is supposed to do.
“Mayors are going to have to show up for each other right now, because if [ICE and Homeland Security are] going to trample on the laws of Newark, they’ll trample on the laws of New York City.”
Not on the scene were any of the other Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor.
Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and former Trump personal lawyer Halina Abba told Fox News, “We will not stand for anybody getting in the way of getting rid of criminals in this country. It’s very simple … he has been arrested and will be charged.” Online, Abba blasted the message, “NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”
As the rally outside of Delaney Hall continued into the early evening hours, the announcement was made that a judge ordered Baraka’s release. Some time later, Newark Police were at the gates, pushing back the crowd and telling people to make way for the mayor’s car.
Soon, two black SUVs arrived with flashing police lights, and the excitement in the crowd grew. Cheers started to build, and slowly, one of the vehicles inched through. Despite the scream of sirens, the crowd refused to budge. Baraka emerged from the car and spoke to the assembly briefly before waving them on, trying to keep things moving. City busses began to line up out front to help people get back home.
While Baraka was released Friday, the struggle continues. Baraka faces trespassing charges, and community organizations as well as city and state officials continue to challenge ICE’s Delaney Hall operation. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has since threatened to arrest the members of Congress who accompanied Baraka on Friday on spurious charges of assaulting ICE officers.
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