Newark mayor threatens Trump’s right-hand man: ‘We might have to sue him, too’
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Newark mayor threatens Trump’s right-hand man: ‘We might have to sue him, too’
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka says he may sue U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was arrested on May 9 for trespassing at a privately owned detention center. A misdemeanor charge was later dropped, but Baraka is still suing the federal government. He says he was allowed on the property by its owner, and that the government doesn’t have any claim to it. The federal government says it has no claim to the property, which is owned by a private company, not by the city, as Baraka claims. The case is still under appeal, and the judge is expected to rule in the next few days on whether to dismiss the case. The city of Newark has been in the news a lot since the arrest of Baraka, who is running for governor in New Jersey’s Democratic primary for the first time in more than a decade, on May 10, when he was charged with trespassing in a federal immigration detention facility. The charges were later dropped after a judge ruled that the charge was politically motivated.
Baraka made his comments Tuesday when he was a guest on MSNBC’s “The Beat” and he was being interviewed by host Ari Melber.
During the show, MSNBC showed the mayor a clip of Homan, who is Trump’s former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, reacting to an interview Baraka gave to MSNBC the night he was arrested.
“I think it was a ridiculous interview,” Homan said in the clip. “I listened to it. Look, he’s running for higher political office. He got exactly what he wanted. He went there to get on camera and cause a ruckus, and that’s what he got.”
“The mayor was on the property,” Homan continued. “He was asked numerous times to leave and refused to leave. Those who break the law should be prosecuted, Mr. Mayor.”
Baraka was then asked by Melber for reaction was to Homan’s comments. “We may have to sue him, too.” Baraka said.
Baraka added that Homan’s comments are “unconstitutional and authoritarian, and it needs to be pushed back against.”
“The reality is I didn’t break any law,” Baraka said. “I was asked to leave the property like he said, and guess what? I left. There’s a video that shows that I left the property. It’s not even their (the federal government’s) property.”
Baraka, a Democratic candidate for governor in next Tuesday’s primary, said he was allowed on the property by its owner, Geo Group, and that the federal government doesn’t have any claim to the property.
He also noted that trespass is a state offense and not a federal offense.
“These guys need to find out the law before they begin running their mouth about what is right and what is wrong,” he said. “Ultimately, they’re just trying to defend their side at all costs. They were absolutely, positively wrong in arresting me.”
Baraka’s sued federal officials on Tuesday for “false arrest and malicious prosecution.” The suit names Alina Habba, the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, and Ricky J. Patel, the special agent in charge of the Newark Division of Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE sister agency under the Department of Homeland Security.
The suit also asserts that Baraka was defamed by Habba on social media before the misdemeanor trespassing charge was dismissed 10 days later.
During Tuesday’s MSNBC interview, Baraka said his lawsuit “holds the U.S. Attorney in our district and the special agent in charge responsible for arresting me, putting out information, even before I was processed, that I was a criminal, (that) I did something wrong, I disobeyed the law, (that) I’m not above the law.”
“And ultimately, I didn’t break any law. I was cuffed, fingerprinted, took pictures of twice, once there and once in court for a misdemeanor, which you send summons to people for, you don’t lock them up and take their fingerprints,” he said.
Federal officers arrested Baraka on May 9 outside Delaney Hall, a privately owned jailhouse in Newark operated as a detention center under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, a Homeland Security agency.
The trespassing charge was dismissed 10 days later by U.S. Magistrate Judge André Espinosa at the request of Habba’s office.
Baraka’s was at Delaney Hall to meet three Democratic members of Congress from New Jersey there that afternoon to conduct a spot oversight inspection.
Chaos erupted outside the detention center after the congresspeople, U.S. Reps. LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, physically encircled the mayor outside the Delaney Hall security gate, where federal officers went to arrest him.
Habba later announced a federal assault charge against McIver the same day she said she was dropping the trespassing charge against the mayor “for the sake of moving forward.”
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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
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