New Jersey's U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, facing a group of protesters outside the federal court building, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka made his first appearance in court after federal agents arrested him last week for committing crimes outside the immigration detention center.
Donald Trump's personal attorney Habba walked up the court's steps on Thursday, surrounded by an ode chorus of Boos and Shame.
Protesters booed New Jersey interim attorney Alina Habba at a federal court hearing for Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on May 15.
Baraka was arrested outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center in Elizabeth on May 9, and the mayor and MPs demanded a government response on internal conditions, marking a major escalation of immigration protests around the facility.
Video of the chaotic scene of his arrest shows masked federal officers pushing protesters and a group of House Democrats from New Jersey before Baraka was handcuffed.
Initially, Baraka was asked to leave the enclosed area of the facility, but agents came out and arrested him after leaving. As Baraka moved to the detention center, federal officials overturned the protesters and seized Democratic U.S. Rep. Lamonica McIver, who crossed the fence to enter the facility. Agents seemed to pile up him and others as they blocked the protesters from the fence.
Baraka spoke outside the federal court in Newark on Thursday after a brief appearance before a judge, calling the allegations “small” and “stupid” and accusing the Justice Department of Selective Prosecution
“We believe I'm targeting,” he told supporters. “I'm the only person arrested, I'm the only person identified, I'm the only person they put in a cell.”
Baraka said the case against him was “erroneous, unjust, undemocratic, unloved, and not American.”
Mayor Baraka told supporters outside the court that he believes he is a “target” of the Trump administration
Habba and Trump administration officials accused Baraka of trespassing and illegally breaking into the facility, which the mayor has categorically denied.
After the incident, he posted a video saying he was “invited” to pass the door of the detention center before he was arrested, which contradicted the government’s narrative, which pushed the door without permission.
“Although the allegations are unfounded, we will fight it,” he said in a statement Thursday. “Thanks to all those who support it. It's bigger than me. It's about all of us.”
Baraka did not plead guilty Thursday, and his lawyers intend to file a motion to dismiss the case, citing a lack of jurisdiction and selective prosecution because they believe it was politically motivated opposition, his opposition to ice and Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.
In court documents, Haba labeled the allegations against him as “little crimes”, but the Justice Department seems not ready to back down.
Habba and Trump administration officials accuse Baraka of breaking into an ice detention center, and mayor and protesters prove demanding federal answers on internal immigration conditions (Reuters)
Administration officials also suggested they were considering criminal charges against three members of Congress, including McEve and Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. and Bonnie Watson Coleman, who were caught in a fight with federal agents.
Three lawmakers and government officials all accused each other of the attack.
They “get lashed out, hit, pushed, pushed, stuffed, pushed, whatever you want to call it, it's an attack.”
In his speech after Baraka's arrest, McVer said she and Watson Coleman were “attacked” and Menendez Jr. Menendez called what happened to McIver “attack.”
Trump's loyal supporter Habba, on behalf of the president, appointed the president on March 25 in a civil fraud case and a libel lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll.
