Three House Democrats and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka reportedly forced their entry into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in New Jersey on Friday.

According to Fox News, Reps. Rob Menendez Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver, all New Jersey Democrats, “stormed through the gates” of ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark.

The incident led to Baraka being taken away in handcuffs.

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Fox News reports:

The prison currently holds alleged killers, MS-13 gang members, child rapists, among other criminal offenders.

The lawmakers were outside the facility with a group of protesters when the gates opened to allow an ICE bus in. The lawmakers then rushed through the gates and past security, DHS said.

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Activists have demanded entry into the facility in recent days, saying the GEO Group, the building’s new owner, is unlawfully preventing it from being inspected.

“We’re at Delaney Hall, an ICE prison in Newark that opened without permission from the city & in violation of local ordinances,” Coleman wrote on X. “We’ve heard stories of what it’s like in other ICE prisons. We’re exercising our oversight authority to see for ourselves.”

McIver said the “lack of transparency around what’s happening with ICE in this facility is unacceptable. People deserve dignity and we need answers.”

“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. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,” Alina Habba, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, said.

“Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested at the Delaney Hall ICE detention center after an argument with agents. Members of congress here for a scheduled visit, were shoved after trying to include Baraka in conversations after he gained entry through the gate,” News12NJ reporter Amanda Lee said.

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Per New Jersey Globe:

Baraka, who previously tried to enter the facility earlier this week, joined Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), and LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) today for another attempt to, in their words, “conduct oversight at the facility.”

“We’re very concerned,” Watson Coleman told facility officials early on in the visit. “Concerned about your safety, concerned about the safety of the people in this country, and most extraordinarily concerned about the possibility of any abuse of power used by this administration.”

Eventually, for reasons that as of now remain unclear, a scuffle broke out between a group of protesters who had gathered in support of the four Democratic politicians and Delaney Hall officials. By the end, Baraka – also a current Democratic candidate for governor – had apparently been arrested, though it’s not immediately clear on what charges.

As of publication time, Baraka remained detained; he was initially led back inside the facility before later being moved to another location a few miles away.

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This is a developing story. 

 

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