NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was taken into custody by homeland security at an ICE facility in New Jersey on Friday afternoon, according to Alina Habba, the Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

“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,” read the social media post from Habba.

Baraka is being held at the ICE Newark field office.

This is a developing story please check back for updates.

  • notsure@fedia.io
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    14 hours ago

    this is more like the month of long knives…they are taking them slowly, one by one, anyone who questions what the administrration is doing on the people’s turf. The Mayor was doing his job and they said he can’t. That’s it. They arrested a mayor of a major city because he was doing his job…

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
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      11 hours ago

      The administration is also folding in many, though not all, of these cases. Just with 10x less media coverage

      For instance, a week ago ICE released Columbia pro-Palestine activist Mohsen Mahdawi from detention after a judge ordered immediate release. Here’s a photo of him leaving

      Or when Maine’s governor stood up to Trump’s anti-trans attacks, he at first suspended federal school lunch funding to the state. But a month later he backed down

      The Trump administration has agreed not to freeze funds to Maine schools, a win for a state that was targeted by the president over its support of transgender rights.

      https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/02/trump-maine-funding-freeze

      This is not to say what they’re trying to do is not dangerous. This is to say they are weaker than they want us all to think


      EDIT: also just now, Rümeysa Öztürk has been released from ICE detention after a judge ordered her immediate release earlier today. Here she is speaking to supporters

      • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        This is not to say what they’re trying to do is not dangerous. This is to say they are weaker than they want us all to think

        Exactly, resistance is not only necessary, it is possible, it’s just much harder to see that second truth right now

    • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      13 hours ago

      The scariest part is that every American I know personally has no idea any of these ICE raids are even happening, let alone that they’ve started detaining judges and mayors or what that even implies. Americans are so dangerously uninformed.

      • shawn1122@lemm.ee
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        12 hours ago

        Americans are completely disengaged politically. Most are too busy consooming, side hustling or paying healthcare bills.

        The rest are getting their news from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

        I haven’t met a GenZ American that’s media literate.

      • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        This is absolutely the scariest part. We’re not going to have enough people to fight back effectively until most of us are already in fucking camps or dead.