Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on Friday following a security breach at Delaney Hall — a federal detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, that opened on May 1 and is being run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — which also included several House Democrats.

Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin shared details about the ongoing situation in a series of posts to X:

“BREAKING: DHS tells @FoxNews two Democratic members of Congress have “stormed” ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey with a group of protesters and are currently holed up in/near a guard shack on the property. Fox is told the group waited for the gates to open to allow a bus with ICE detainees to enter the property, then they rushed in past security. DHS says they believe two of the members of Congress are @RepBonnie and @RepMenendez, and video posted online appears to confirm they are both on site at the facility.”

Melugin included video of three Garden State Democrats — Reps. Bonnie Watson-Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Rob Menendez — at the facility, complaining that the Department of Homeland Security had allowed ICE to open the facility over the objections of Mayor Baraka.

Rep. Watson-Coleman shared her own photos from Delaney Hall, claiming that they were simply there to exercise their “oversight authority.”

“As congressional members, we have the power to conduct oversight. That’s what we’re here to do,” McIver echoed the same talking point.

Mayor Baraka, who is currently campaigning to be New Jersey’s next governor, has been protesting the facility since it opened and was ultimately detained by ICE for trespassing on Friday. “Delaney Hall cannot lawfully open in Newark at this time,” he said when it was first announced.

Attorney Alina Habba, who is currently the Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, released a statement regarding Baraka’s arrest:

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.

“It was an act of intimidation not just to the mayor, not just to us, but to everyone who is watching. They feel no weight of the law. They feel no restraint on what they should be doing. And that was shown in broad daylight today,” Menendez said after ICE detained Baraka.

Earlier in the week, the city of Newark attempted to stall operations at the facility by parking a bulldozer in front of the entrance and blocking access to the gate.

DHS responded to the incident with a statement posted to X: “Today, as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center, a group of protestors, including two members of US Congress, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility. The allegations by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the proper permitting is false.”

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin also told Fox News host Will Cain, “A civilian, if they try to break into a detention facility, they will be physically restrained. Members of Congress also have to follow the law.”

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Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on Friday following a security breach at Delaney Hall — a federal detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, that opened on May 1 and is being run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — which also included several House Democrats.

Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin shared details about the ongoing situation in a series of posts to X:

“BREAKING: DHS tells @FoxNews two Democratic members of Congress have “stormed” ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey with a group of protesters and are currently holed up in/near a guard shack on the property. Fox is told the group waited for the gates to open to allow a bus with ICE detainees to enter the property, then they rushed in past security. DHS says they believe two of the members of Congress are @RepBonnie and @RepMenendez, and video posted online appears to confirm they are both on site at the facility.”

Melugin included video of three Garden State Democrats — Reps. Bonnie Watson-Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Rob Menendez — at the facility, complaining that the Department of Homeland Security had allowed ICE to open the facility over the objections of Mayor Baraka.

Rep. Watson-Coleman shared her own photos from Delaney Hall, claiming that they were simply there to exercise their “oversight authority.”

“As congressional members, we have the power to conduct oversight. That’s what we’re here to do,” McIver echoed the same talking point.

Mayor Baraka, who is currently campaigning to be New Jersey’s next governor, has been protesting the facility since it opened and was ultimately detained by ICE for trespassing on Friday. “Delaney Hall cannot lawfully open in Newark at this time,” he said when it was first announced.

Attorney Alina Habba, who is currently the Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, released a statement regarding Baraka’s arrest:

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.

“It was an act of intimidation not just to the mayor, not just to us, but to everyone who is watching. They feel no weight of the law. They feel no restraint on what they should be doing. And that was shown in broad daylight today,” Menendez said after ICE detained Baraka.

Earlier in the week, the city of Newark attempted to stall operations at the facility by parking a bulldozer in front of the entrance and blocking access to the gate.

DHS responded to the incident with a statement posted to X: “Today, as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center, a group of protestors, including two members of US Congress, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility. The allegations by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the proper permitting is false.”

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin also told Fox News host Will Cain, “A civilian, if they try to break into a detention facility, they will be physically restrained. Members of Congress also have to follow the law.”

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