Newark Mayor Ras Baraka says video proves he was 'invited in' to ICE facility

Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News on May 15, 2025

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Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka has released footage he says proves he was invited onto the grounds of Delaney Hall, a new ICE detention center in New Jersey, where he was arrested for trespassing last week.

Baraka was taken into custody on Friday at the facility in Newark and detained for several hours before his eventual release. He said he was there to participate in a press conference with a congressional delegation made up of Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver, who showed up to carry out a surprise inspection of the 1,000-bed detention center.

Witnesses on the scene said things took a turn for the tense when Baraka attempted to enter the facility alongside the delegation.

On Wednesday, Baraka took to X to share video of the moment he “was invited into Delaney Hall” in a bid to disprove claims he’d been trespassing.

“Nobody was kicking or shoving like the coverage suggests,” he wrote. “We were invited in.”

The 10-second clip shows a guard at the center opening up the gate, and then ushering Baraka inside.

A short time later, a federal official allegedly told Baraka that he wasn’t allowed to enter because he’s “not a Congress member,” prompting him to return to the public side of the fence. Within minutes, he was surrounded by officers, who eventually took him into custody.

Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey and former Donald Trump defense lawyer Alina Habba later said Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark.”

But Baraka has called the characterization of his visit intentionally misleading, saying he’s been “shocked by all the lies” told about his arrest. He said clips from the scene “make it clear that Delaney Hall personnel opened the gate for me, and allowed me to enter the property, as well as my calm and respectful departure when asked to leave.”

“None of my actions were orchestrated or preconceived, and this arrest occurred because I was specifically targeted by this administration,” he continued.

Baraka, a Democrat who’s running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has long been pushing back against opening the Delaney Hall facility in Newark, signaling his intention to take on the Trump administration and its illegal immigration crackdown. He has accused ICE of opening the facility without the necessary permits and refusing to allow city inspectors into the prison, a claim Homeland Security officials have brushed off as “false.”

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