Body camera footage from multiple angles, totaling roughly 15 minutes and showing a scuffle during the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, was released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Saturday evening.
Baraka, also a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was arrested Friday outside Delaney Hall, an immigrant detention center in New Jersey’s largest city.
Baraka has clashed with federal immigration officials ever since the detention facility, privately owned by the GEO Group, opened. Friday’s arrest was a culmination of the back-and-forth, with Newark officials repeating that the owner has not cooperated with local code inspectors.
Four body camera videos of the incident were provided by the DHS on Saturday night.
“These 4 body cam videos show the mayor being told to leave the premises, congresswoman/man obstructing the arrest, attack on officers by congresspeople and an unprofessional attitude toward the staff,” Homeland Security officials said in a statement to NJ Advance Media on Saturday night.
NJ Advance Media reviewed the footage and exactly what took place remains unclear. (DHS and New Jersey officials have continued to be at odds regarding Friday’s events.)
Three New Jersey members of Congress — Democrats U.S. Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman — were at the facility for an oversight visit before they had the confrontation with law enforcement as Baraka was being taken into custody.
Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said Baraka “ignored multiple warnings” to leave the property Friday.
Kabir Moss, Baraka’s campaign spokesman, said Saturday night the mayor did not have further comment beyond the statements he made earlier in the day.
Baraka said early Saturday that he intended to return to the detention facility.
“When it‘s time, I will, absolutely,” he told a press scrum after a campaign appearance at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark.
Baraka again insisted that the facility’s owner was not cooperating with the city.
“The purpose of having a certificate of occupancy is for the safety and security of the people who occupy the building, for the first responders who have to respond there and for the visitors who visit the property,” Baraka said.
After Baraka was arrested Friday, he was released hours later on the order of a federal magistrate judge, city officials previously said.
The mayor called the arrest politically motivated.
When asked about DHS’s claims surrounding the body camera footage, Watson Coleman told NJ Advance Media on Saturday night: “The footage speaks for itself.”
“They can lie and say anything they want,” she continued. “The truth is before the people‘s eyes. We did not assault anyone. We tried very hard to shield the mayor.”
Menendez and McIver could not immediately be reached for comment late Saturday.
On Saturday, following the previous day’s raucous scene, President Donald Trump‘s administration signaled it may also arrest the Jersey members of Congress over the incident.
The Department of Homeland Security said the elected officials “stormed a gate and broke into” the detention center and assaulted officers.
A statement from the department said actions from the officials went “beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk.”
McIver said Friday “that‘s a lie” and “none of this happened.”
She said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers assaulted her “while regional directors of ICE watched it happen.”
Menendez also denied breaking in.
“We have the right to conduct oversight on an unannounced basis,” he said. “It‘s a right that members of Congress have.”
Newark has one of the state‘s largest immigrant populations, and Baraka has also said during his campaign that he would sign the Immigrant Trust Act. That bill would codify a directive to protect immigrants into state law.
Several politicians, including almost all of the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, took to social media Friday to respond to Baraka’s arrest.
His Democratic colleagues were supportive and called for his release, while Republicans condemned the mayor’s actions.
Gov. Phil Murphy wrote online that he was “outraged by the unjust arrest.”
“Mayor Baraka is an exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable neighbors,” Murphy said.
In a lawsuit against the GEO Group, the city has asserted that the company must obtain a new certificate of occupancy, or CO, for Delaney Hall’s reopening as an immigrant detention center.
The GEO Group has insisted that a CO previously issued by the city was still valid, an assertion backed by Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on Thursday. That day she also dismissed the city’s arguments that the contractor had endangered Delaney Hall workers and detainees.
After Friday’s arrest, the mayor was charged with criminal trespassing, a charge he intends to fight.
Baraka is scheduled to attend a pre-trial hearing on May 15, he told Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s weekend show, “PoliticsNation.”
In response to a question about operations at the Newark immigration detention center, Baraka called it “the point of contention.”
“We don’t know what‘s going on in there. We don’t know who’s in there. They don’t allow inspections ... they’re not complying with the local laws,” Baraka told Sharpton.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka stands outside Delaney Hall in Newark on Friday, May 9, 2025.Michael Dempsey | For NJ Advance
Stories by Steven Rodas
Stories by Brent Johnson
NJ Advance Media staff writers Jelani Gibson and Steve Strunsky contributed to this report.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @stevenrodas.bsky.social.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @johnsb01.