Newark Mayor Ras Baraka reacted Friday after being taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New Jersey.

“The reality is this,” Baraka said when he was released shortly after 8 p.m. Friday. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Newsweek previously reached out to Baraka’s office via email for comment, along with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump has prioritized illegal immigration as a key pillar during his second term in office. His administration’s push for mass deportations, however, have been getting held up in courts nationwide.

Within the first 100 days of his second term, the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act, granting him authority to deport and detain noncitizens. The implementation was originally blocked in court.

Recently, deportations involving families and children have come back into question, as DHS has defended its practices, saying in part that “rather than separate their families, ICE asked the mothers if they wanted to be removed with their children or if they wanted ICE to place the children with someone safe the parent designates.”

What To Know

Baraka’s arrest sparked a massive reaction from the Trump administration and Democrats alike on social media.

Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey and former Trump lawyer, wrote in an X post confirming reports of Baraka’s 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.”

Baraka, a Democrat, and other local lawmakers on Friday were seen outside Delaney Hall, an ICE detention center, urging federal officials to allow them inside to observe conditions.

On social media, Baraka, who is running to be New Jersey’s next governor, posted about the center throughout the week, showing up there and demanding entry. Baraka accuses the operator of Delaney Hall, Geo Group, of inspection violations and breaking city law.

DHS wrote on X that the incident occurred when a bus carrying detainees was entering the gate of the center when a group of protesters, including congressional lawmakers, “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”

“The allegations by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the proper permitting is false. Meet who the New Jersey lawmakers are fighting for,” DHS added, then threaded the backgrounds of ICE Newark detainees.

While speaking with CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins on Friday night, Baraka said, “It wasn’t unbearable, but it was definitely, you know, a humiliating experience and uncomfortable for me overall. But you know, in the end, those guys [Homeland Security officials] did the best they could to make me feel comfortable and I appreciate that.”

Baraka added that he in fact did not come to the facility to protest but was there earlier in the day in an attempt to serve the facility with a lawsuit amid the legal back-and-forth.

“ICE … made a determination after somebody came and said that we shouldn’t be there … after they told us to leave, we left and they began to arrest … try to arrest me, I shouldn’t say us, they targeted me and came after me specifically and arrested me,” Baraka said.

Baraka said he was there for over an hour and “nobody told me to leave that place,” he said, adding that DHS then approached him and escalated “the situation.”

He said he did not break any laws and was there to support New Jersey congressional members in their efforts to hold a media briefing after touring the facility. Baraka said he then thought it would be best to go with the DHS officials to not “cause further disruption.”

Baraka calls his arrest and trespass charge really “humiliating and painful,” but adds that he doesn’t “have any regrets at all.”

When previously reached for comment via email on Friday, the Geo Group referred Newsweek to ICE.

What People Are Saying

A spokesperson for GEO Group to Fox News Digital last month: “The attempt by local and state officials to stop the opening of a lawful federal immigration processing center at the Delaney Hall facility in Newark is another unfortunate example of a politicized campaign by sanctuary city and open borders politicians in New Jersey to interfere with the federal government’s efforts to arrest, detain, and deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens in accordance with established federal law.”

They added: “These politically motivated tactics threaten both public safety and the local economy and are based on bogus claims about the Delaney Hall facility, which previously operated as a federal immigration processing center for six years under President [Barack] Obama’s administration, without opposition from local political leaders.”

American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Executive Director Amol Sinha, in a statement sent to Newsweek via email on Friday: “The arrest of Mayor Ras Baraka by the Department of Homeland Security is a shameful escalation of the Trump administration’s intimidation campaign against officials who refuse to do their bidding.”

Sinha added: “Mayor Baraka was at Delaney Hall to join a tour of the detention facility with a congressional delegation as part of their authorized oversight responsibilities. Mayor Baraka – and lawmakers across New Jersey and the country – are being targeted by the Trump administration for refusing to be complicit with its ongoing violations of due process. Mayor Baraka must be immediately released from custody, and the Trump administration must end its assault on the fundamental rights at the core of our democracy.”

Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, on X: “Relieved to see Mayor Baraka released from federal custody, but the bottom line is he never should have been detained in the first place.”

What Happens Next

The legal proceedings Baraka will face are unclear at the moment.