'Get Some Better Information': Newark Mayor Slams Trump Adviser Who Justified His Arrest

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Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested Friday while protesting against a new local immigration detention center, is addressing a claim from New Jersey’s interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba that he had “ignored multiple warnings” — and thus deserved to be detained.

Baraka was held for more than an hour and joined CNN’s “The Source” later that evening.

“The reality is Alina Habba wasn’t there,” the Democrat told host Kaitlan Collins. “The U.S. Attorney wasn’t there. She doesn’t know what happened … I was there for over an hour in that space, and nobody ever told me to move. I was in there for over an hour.”

“Not a single person, not an officer from ICE, not any of the security guards, nobody told me to leave that place,” he continued. “Somebody from Homeland Security came in the end and began to escalate the situation, and we wound up being where we are today.”

Baraka was arrested during a protest against the reopening of Delaney Hall, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center for immigrants in Newark. His wife, Linda Baraka, believes the federal government purposefully targeted him.

Habba later justified the arrest publicly on social media and argued that the Democratic mayor and current gubernatorial candidate was rightfully detained. A former personal attorney for Trump, Habba was made a counselor to the president in December.

“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,” she wrote Friday on X, formerly Twitter.

“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law,” Habba continued. “That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”

Baraka, seen here joining protesters outside Delaney Hall on Wednesday.

Asked what he would say to various critics who are painting the arrest as a publicity stunt for his gubernatorial bid, Baraka told Collins he had merely been asking The Geo Group, which operates the facility, for an “updated certificate of occupancy” ahead of its reopening.

“They haven’t had one in 20 years,” he said. “We say that they need one, because the local law demands that, that they have to get a Change Of Use [permit]. They dispute that, and that’s their right to dispute it. But the person that settles that is a judge in a court of law.”

Baraka was equally adamant in addressing Habba’s direct claim that he broke the law.

“I didn’t go there to break any laws, I didn’t break any laws,” he said Friday. “I was there as the mayor of the city, exercising my right and duty as an elected official, you know, supporting our congresspeople, preparing for a press conference that was supposed to happen there.”

“I did not enter that place unlawfully, I did not break any laws, and so all of that is incorrect,” Baraka continued. “So, she was not there. So she should get some better information.”

Watch the full exchange below:

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