Newark mayor sues feds over arrest outside ICE facility

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is suing federal officials over his May 9 arrest outside an immigration detention center, alleging malicious prosecution and false arrest. 

He also accused Alina Habba, the acting U.S. Attorney of New Jersey, of defamation over a post on her personal social media account, in which she wrongly stated that Baraka trespassed and ignored multiple warnings from authorities to leave the Newark detention center property. 

“To arrest me, to handcuff me, to drag me away, to take my fingerprints and a picture and mugshots for a class-C misdemeanor is egregious. For me to appear in a hearing and after the hearing, for the U.S. Marshals to rush in and basically to take my picture again is egregious and malicious in my mind,” he said Tuesday outside the federal courthouse in Newark. 

Baraka, one of six candidates vying to be the Democratic nominee in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, filed the federal lawsuit on the first day of early voting in the state. He said the timing is so that people are held responsible for it “immediately.”

Besides Habba, the 17-page complaint also named Ricky Patel, a supervising agent at Homeland Security Investigations, the agency that arrested Baraka. The mayor also filed a notice of his intent to sue the federal government, said Nancy Erika Smith, his attorney.

“Political prosecutions are for fascist countries, not the United States of America. Mayor Baraka was a target because he has stood up for the constitutional and human rights of all people, including immigrants,” Smith said. 

Baraka was arrested one week after Delaney Hall, now the largest detention center on the East Coast, opened its doors. He said he visited to check if its owner, Geo Group, had done the required inspections and secured a certificate of occupancy. 

The lawsuit details his arrest by the minute. He arrived at 1:42 p.m. and was invited eight minutes later by a Geo Group staffer inside the facility’s gates, where he waited until 2:33 p.m., the complaint states. Patel ordered Baraka to leave and threatened to arrest him, and Baraka left the property at 2:38 p.m., the suit states. Three New Jersey House members on site for a facility tour joined the mayor and advocated for his entry. 

Five minutes later, about 20 armed, masked Department of Homeland Security agents swarmed Baraka and “violently” arrested him without probable cause, the complaint says. He was taken to another DHS facility where agents photographed and fingerprinted him, an experience he called “humiliating.” He spent five hours in custody. 

Before agents took Baraka to the DHS facility, Habba already posted on social media that Baraka “has willingly chosen to disregard the law.” Later that evening, Habba also allegedly made false statements about his arrest on Fox News, and in public appearances with other DHS officials in the following days.

The suit contends that Habba and Patel “conspired” to promote “false and defamatory” statements about what happened, including that Baraka stormed the facility. 

“The false affidavit was made with malice, particularly seeking to assure that the evening news included videos of the Black mayor of Newark, New Jersey, being led away in handcuffs by federal officials,” the filing states. 

Baraka said Tuesday that race played a role in the incident. 

“It’s easy for people to believe that a mayor being arrested, especially a mayor that looks like me, has been arrested for something other than what just happened … When people see me in cuffs, they automatically believe I did something wrong, I was guilty,” he said. “The reality is, I didn’t do anything.” 

Habba attended a court hearing in Baraka’s case, an unusual move for a U.S. attorney. But his charge was dismissed 13 days after his arrest. He said he learned Habba planned to drop the charges only after she announced it on social media. 

Judge André Espinosa rebuked the U.S. Attorney’s Office while dismissing the charge with prejudice, urging attorneys to operate with a higher standard and avoid using their roles to advance political agendas.  

The same day Baraka’s case was dismissed, Habba charged Rep. LaMonica McIver with two felony counts of assaulting officers during the scuffle. McIver has called the move “purely political.”

Habba, Trump’s personal attorney who he nominated to serve as interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, also has said she’s investigating Gov. Phil Murphy and state Attorney General Matt Platkin over the state’s ban on local law enforcement assisting in civil immigration enforcement.

A spokesperson for Habba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Habba took to social media Monday night to blast Baraka for suing her and offered him “advice” to instead prioritize violent crime and public safety. 

“Far better use of time for the great citizens of New Jersey,” she said. 

Smith responded by touting a drop in violent crime in Newark during Baraka’s term as mayor.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, sneered at Baraka’s lawsuit.

“Mayor Baraka is trying to rewrite history with this frivolous lawsuit. It’s too late: The American people saw with their own eyes his actions that put the safety of our law enforcement agents and the staff at Delaney Hall at risk — all for the sake of the dangerous criminals housed there,” McLaughlin said.

Baraka is seeking compensatory damages for pain, suffering, stress, humiliation, mental anguish, personal physical injury, physical sickness and damage to his reputation. 

“I don’t know if Alina Habba and Ricky Patel have enough resources to pay me for the damages they’ve caused me. At the end of the day, they should at least apologize — they should at least write me a letter and apologize to me,” he said.