(NewsNation) — The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, says he was not trespassing at a detention facility and that his issue is with the private contractor running the group, not the Department of Homeland Security.
Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested and charged with trespassing after his visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
Baraka was arrested along with several New Jersey representatives who were attempting to tour Delaney Hall, which is run by GEO Group, which has contracted with ICE to manage the detention center.
“We don’t have an issue with the Department of Homeland Security; our issue is with the GEO Group, who is a private prison operator who, in fact, occupies that property,” Baraka told NewsNation.
He says the group hasn’t applied for a certificate of occupancy or allowed federal inspectors inside.
Baraka also denies trespassing at the facility, as he has been accused of doing.
“The guard of GEO allowed me on the property. He asked me to come in, as a matter of fact,” Baraka said. “I stayed in there for over an hour, waiting right there at the gate until Homeland Security arrived and began to target and harass me. They instructed me to leave. I did. Eventually, when I left, they came on the other side of the gate anyway, after a phone call they received and arrested me.”
Baraka said officials in New Jersey don’t know how many people are inside the building. He accused GEO Group of violating state and local laws, noting that a contract with DHS doesn’t exempt them from those requirements.
Baraka, a Democrat who is running for governor, said there are also questions about who is being detained and said there needs to be due process when deporting people.
“Being a criminal who committed a crime, robbing and killing, versus somebody (who) was waiting for citizenship, is completely different,” Baraka said. “It is unconstitutional to arrest, detain and remove people without due process. We’re waiting to become citizens of the United States. Specifically, if they’ve begun a program or process to do that.”