Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark in handcuffs out of doors Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, NJ on May 9, 2025.
Courtesy: Newark Mayor’s Office
The Trump management advised Saturday that New Jersey Democratic lawmakers focused on a conflict an afternoon previous with government at a federal immigration detention middle that ended in the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka additionally may just face legal fees.
“There will likely be more arrests coming,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin instructed CNN in an interview on Saturday.
“We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting these ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer,” McLaughlin mentioned.
She later tweeted a video of the chaotic incident out of doors the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark.
“We will not tolerate assault against our ICE law enforcement agents. By members of Congress or anyone else,” McLauglin wrote within the submit on X.
Alina Habba, the highest federal prosecutor in New Jersey, in an interview on Fox News on Saturday, mentioned, “I’m not going to get into the weeds about other things that may or may not be coming.”
The 3 lawmakers on the scene — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver — sharply dispute DHS’s characterization of the incident.
Menendez accused the Trump management of spreading “lies and misinformation.”
“As Members of Congress, we have a legal right to conduct oversight at any DHS facility without prior notice, as we have already done twice this year,” Menendez mentioned in a remark Friday.
“This is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I am shocked and disturbed that something like this happened in our community,” he added.
But McLaughlin accused the Democrats of a “bizarre political stunt.”
“Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities,” McLaughlin mentioned on Friday.
She mentioned it was once “an evolving situation,” maintaining the door open to additional motion.
Video presentations an altercation between the lawmakers and obvious protesters with legislation enforcement by way of a safety gate on the detention middle.
Coleman mentioned on X that the scuffle took place after the lawmakers entered the power.
“We entered the facility, came BACK OUT to speak to the Mayor, and then ICE agents began shoving us,” she mentioned.
Axios first reported that DHS was once making an allowance for further arrests. CNBC showed the plans.
Baraka, who’s working for governor of New Jersey, was once launched with out bond Friday night. He was once charged in Newark federal courtroom with one rely of trespassing.
Habba, the period in-between New Jersey U.S. Attorney, accused Baraka of committing “trespass and [ignoring] multiple warnings” from DHS officers “to remove himself from the ICE detention center.”