2mo ago

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka taken into custody by homeland security in New Jersey

pix11.com /news/local-news/newark-mayor-ras-baraka-taken-into-custody-by-ice-in-new-jersey/

NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was taken into custody by homeland security at an ICE facility in New Jersey on Friday afternoon, according to Alina Habba, the Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

“The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon,” read the social media post from Habba.

Baraka is being held at the ICE Newark field office.

This is a developing story please check back for updates.

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Context: the facility failed a fire inspection and is refusing to allow inspectors back onto the grounds or to correct the violations. The mayor and city council made a point of serving the notice in person previously, which was ignored. The GEO group are saying "fire safety is politics" and refusing to cooperate.
- As I understand it, GEO and ICE are claiming the local officials have no business inspecting the private facilities. They believe they are beyond state inspection laws, and will only answer only to ICE regarding conditions.
  
  Shiiit, who do they think they are, a fortune 500 company?
  Sarcasm aside, it's completely ridiculous. Even the big guys play nice with the fire service because nobody wants to get fucked by the insurance companies. I think the next step here would be to notify the GEO group's insurers that they have multiple fire safety violations and they're refusing to fix them.
  
  If this was federal land with a federal building I could imagine some legal opinion that lets them be fire traps outside the jurisdiction of the city, but just because the federal government leases a facility doesn't make it then an exclusively federal building.
- https://www.latintimes.com/ice-opens-new-jersey-detention-center-earlier-expected-despite-legal-dispute-city-newark-582319
  
  Thank you!
- I'm fucking confused.
I hope New Jersey's governor decides to deploy their national guard over this. If ICE arrests mayors, then they will inevitably work their way to the top. This is a red line.
- Then Trump will just federalize the New Jersey National Guard. Which presidents can do. Putting the Guard directly under Trump's (really SecDef Pete Hegseth's) control, making the governor's orders invalid. Removes the governor from the Guard's chain of command.
  That's an existing presidential power as Commander-in-Chief. In better times used by a president to take over the Alabama National Guard to enforce anti-segregation federal law and protect a little black girl going to school. Now may be used by a mad king racist fascist to ensure nobody protects vulnerable brown and black people.
  
  That only works if the guard accepts his orders. Legally, they have no choice. But in practical terms, large groups of heavy armed men get to make their own decisions.
  
  Apparently 20-something states still have state militias/state guards, and NJ is one of those.
  You know, the actual "well-regulated militias" that 2a refers to...
  I think that could kind of pan out differently than the National Guard, since it's fully under the purview of the state of NJ.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_State_Guard
  
  So let HitlerPig do it. Make him do it. Weaponize his virtuosic incompetence against him. Show the world, and history, who he really is.
I'd like to highlight this image of ICE agents looking almost exactly like narco gang members. Even the Nazis showed their faces.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/09/newark-mayor-arrested-baraka-ice.html
- Two of them should be careful because they seem to be much closer to being deported than the one in the middle
- They're pulling these lowlifes from all over the federal government to serve in the ICE kidnapping squads. Being in an anonymous unaccountable goon squad really appeals to these dudes.
It's funny how "violently arrested" is ICEwashed into "taken into custody"
The states right’s people are slobbering on Trumps boots.
Update, has been released from custody
https://www.northjersey.com/videos/news/essex/2025/05/09/newark-nj-mayor-ras-baraka-released-from-custody/83545443007/

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