Ras Baraka denies charge against him a day after he spent several hours in police custody.
Published On 10 May 2025
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has denied trespassing at a new United States federal immigration detention centre following his arrest and release.
Baraka, who has been protesting the centre’s opening this week, denied his trespassing charge on Saturday, a day after he spent several hours in police custody.
The mayor, who is seeking the Democratic party’s nomination for governor, has gone head-to-head with the Trump administration over undocumented immigration, pushing back against the opening of the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 1,000-bed detention facility, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.
Officials accused Baraka of trespassing and ignoring warnings to leave the Delaney Hall facility in Newark, New Jersey.
“I’m shocked by all the lies that were told here,” he said, adding he had been invited there for a news conference.
“No one else [was] arrested, I was invited in, then they arrested me on the sidewalk.”
In an interview Saturday with MSNBC, Baraka recounted being put in a cell, ha