Newark mayor, Ras Baraka, was arrested on Friday in a federal detention center for migrants where he protested against his opening, said a federal prosecutor.
Posted at 4 p.m. 14
Alina Habba, an interim prosecutor of New Jersey, said on the X platform that Mr. Baraka had introduced himself to private property without authorization and ignored the warnings of the internal security personnel asking her to leave Delaney Hall, a detention center managed by the private prisons operator Geo Group.
Baraka, a democrat who presents himself to succeed Governor Phil Murphy, embraced the fight with the Trump administration on illegal immigration.
He vigorously opposed the construction and opening of the 1,000 bed detention center, arguing that he should not be authorized to open its doors due to construction permit problems.
This week, he went to the site several times, a huge secure and wireless space, but had already encountered the presence of armed agents of the federal police.
According to witnesses, the arrest took place after Mr. Baraka tried to participate in a programmed visit to the center with three members of the delegation of the New Jersey Congress, representatives Robert Menendez, Lamonica McIiver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
At the end of February, immigration services granted a billion dollar contract over 15 years to a company to transform this site into a detention center of 1000 beds. The site was chosen near Newark airport to facilitate evictions.
With the France-Presse agency
