Top Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka was arrested on Friday for trespassing at an ICE holding facility in Newark during a protest. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig | Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Local outlet Insider NJ reported that a spokesperson for Baraka’s campaign confirmed the arrest, saying that he "was arrested and detained by ICE" and that he was being transported to the Homeland Security Investigations Newark field office.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that Reps. Rob Menendez Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver, all New Jersey Democrats, were also involved in the incident and rushed through the facility’s gates, demanding they be allowed to conduct an "oversight visit."
The lawmakers were held up at the first checkpoint.
Baraka, who has been protesting the facility’s opening for months, was a regular presence at protests outside the building throughout the week.
Baraka has said that using Delaney Hall for processing people in the country illegally goes against state and local law, leading the city to file a lawsuit in the Essex County Superior Court at the end of March.
NEWARK MAYOR SAYS ICE AGENTS RAIDED 'WITHOUT WARRANT,' VIOLATED CONSTITUTION
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka speaks after the Democratic gubernatorial debate at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on Feb. 2. (AP photo/Mike Catalini)
Meanwhile, Jack Ciattarelli, another GOP candidate for New Jersey governor, called Baraka’s actions a "cheap publicity stunt."
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"In Newark, the airport is in the midst of an unprecedented & dangerous meltdown, the public schools are failing students & families, and there is crime in the streets every day. And yet its Mayor and leading Democrat candidate for Governor, [Ras Baraka], is busy shilling for illegal Immigrants at an ICE detention center with a cheap publicity stunt. Shameful," he posted on X.
Fox News Digital's Louis Casiano and Cameron Arcand and Fox News Channel's Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-dem-gubernatorial-candidate-arrested-trespassing-ice-detention-center