MAGA leaders finished out the week in meltdown mode—yet again. The latest outrage? That an elected official would attempt to visit a government facility.
It all went down on Friday afternoon when Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark and Democratic candidate for New Jersey governor, was arrested outside an ICE facility alongside three members of Congress.
While the congresspeople—New Jersey Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and LaMonica McIver—were inside the Delaney Hall detention facility waiting to be given a tour, Baraka waited outside in a fenced-in parking lot as protestors gathered on the other side of the fence. He was told to leave the fenced-in part of the parking lot and, despite complying with the request, was then detained by ICE agents.
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Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and Trump advisor Alina Habba said on X of the 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.”
In her own statement, Rep. Watson Coleman explained that she and her fellow members of Congress were exercising their legal oversight function as they have previously done at the Elizabeth Detention Center “without incident,” she noted.
Watson Coleman continued, ”Reopening Delaney Hall won’t make us safer and it won’t create an immigration system that is fair and secure for all families.”
Her statement was a response to posts made by Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the Department of Homeland Security, who called the protest a “bizarre political stunt” and described the politicians as having stormed the gate of the center.
McLaughlin added, “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility.” In a later tweet, she described the members of Congress as being part of a “mob” that assaulted ICE agents.
Appearing on Fox News, McLaughlin said that the people detained at Delaney Hall were “the worst of the worst” and included members of the MS-13 gang. She described the claim that the group were exercising their legal oversight rights as “laughable.”
Other official government X accounts were quick to try and get ahead of the story, with the Department of Homeland Security and Rapid Response 47 accounts tweeting about the detainees, with the Rapid Response account tweeting, “Meet the criminal illegal immigrants Democrats tried to release back onto the streets today when they showed up at an ICE detention facility in Newark.”
In another tweet, Rapid Response 47 posted a video from the protest with the caption, “Democrats are screaming at ICE agents simply because they’re working to get vicious criminal illegal immigrants off our streets.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller shared the Department of Homeland Security’s thread and added, “Today, Democrat officials riotously stormed and invaded an ICE facility to secure the release of the following criminals and terrorists here illegally.”
MAGA supporters were similarly quick to categorize the protest as criminal, with one Daily Signal reporter tweeting, ‘“Peacefully entering” is a funny way to spell “trespassing on federal property” and “interfering with detention.”’ Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik, described as an extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, called for the mayor and all of the congresspeople involved in the protest to be arrested, repeating the Trump administration’s line that “no one is above the law.”
MAGA YouTuber Benny Johnson echoed these sentiments, tweeting about Rep. McIver, “She broke into a New Jersey ICE facility and assaulted multiple law enforcement officers—violating federal law under 18 U.S. Code § 111. Expel her from Congress. Lock her up.” A pro-MAGA account with over 1 million followers said that the action was “clearly criminal trespassing” and that Rep. McIver should be ”prosecuted and thrown in prison.”
Speaking to the press at the site, McIver said that Mayor Baraka was arrested despite complying with instructions to leave the area. She also said that she and her fellow Democrats were “roughed up” after being made to wait for two hours, adding, “If they can treat members of Congress like that, imagine how they treat people on the streets.”
In a statement shared to social media, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said that he was outraged by Baraka’s arrest and called for his immediate release. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) described the scenes outside Delaney Hall as an “absolute outrage” and also called for Baraka’s immediate release.
New Jersey Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim both released statements on Baraka’s arrest, with Booker also calling for Baraka’s release and describing his arrest as, “disturbing, unnecessary, and indicative of tactics that are undermining the safety and security of our communities.” In Kim’s statement, he revealed that he had contacted ICE, who confirmed Baraka was arrested for trespassing, and that he has also contacted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
According to POLITICO, Baraka was being held at an ICE field office in Newark as New Jersey Democrats worked to secure his release. Speaking to the publication, Watson Coleman said that ICE was “out of control,” saying of the incident, “This most assuredly is the most discomforting, concerning visit we have had. And what we experienced was the weaponization of the abuse of power that this administration has given ICE to do.”
