6 events in Passaic County with a date

Newark mayor speaks on case of Delaney Hall trespassing charges

By: Ricardo Kaulessar
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... The Mayor of New Jersey's largest city was in federal court on the morning of May 15, 2[205] when his lawyers and lawyers for the Trump administration faced off over his recent visit to the Delaney Hall detention center.
..... The two sides gathered for a status conference regarding the trespassing charges filed against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, in the chambers of United States Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa in the Martin Luther King building and U.S. courthouse in Newark.
..... Baraka was charged after he went to the facility on May 9, [2025] joining U.S . representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIvere and Rob Menedez, all democrats from New Jersey. they visited the detention facility as part of congressional oversight.
..... The status conference was to discuss Baraka's request for a preliminary hearing to determine whether his case should go to trial.
..... According to Baraka's lawyer Raymond Brown and pool reporter form the New Jersey Monitor, the discussion also was about when the government would turn over evidence. Alina Habba, acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, was in the courtroom but did not speak, Brown said.
..... The trial is being considered for a date in late June or early July. [2025]
..... "It's silly, it's petty, it;s unlawful," Baraka said about the case, outside the courtroom. "Get rid of it."
..... Baraka was joined by his attorneys, Rahul Agarwal, Wanda Akin and Brown. the prosecutor was Stephen Demanovich.
..... Brown said the defense believes there are jurisdictional problems with the government's case. "They had no more right to arrest him than they would have to arrest someone outside Buckingham Palace," Brown said.
..... The lawyer referred to public statement from Trump administration officials who said Baraka's "stormed Delaney Hall" and then made reference to the storming of the Bastille and the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capital
..... "That's storming. It's a term of art. He didn't do it," Brown said.
..... Immigrant advocates rallied outside the courthouse before the appearance. About 200 people were gathered, including members of the Service Employees International Union, the People's Organization for Progress and other activists. Some were holding signs saying "Immigrants are essential" and "Justice for Ras Baraka."
..... Nedia Morsy of Make The Road Action led the people in chants and recounted the arrest on May 9, [2025] saying Baraka was "treated like a threat."
..... "The Trump administration is testing the limits of authoritarianism," she said.
..... Viri Martinez of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrate Justice said: "We are facing some of the strongest people, forces, in the world.
..... In the courtroom, Agarwal said the defense has videos that show Baraka being invited onto the property and that he was outside the property when he was arrested. The legal team has seen nothing - documents, videos, reports of phone calls - related to the decision to arrest him. The defense is seeking the "immediate' production of those materials, he said.
..... Aiken said the defense is seeking the identify of the person who invited Baraka onto the property in the video hat has been made public.
..... Habba whispered something to Demanovich, who stood to say, "We believe there's clear evidence the mayor was on the property" and was asked to leave.
..... "We would like to see that evidence," Agarwal said.
..... The judge noted that rules say this charge does not need a jury trial. both sides agreed. Brown said the defense reserves the right to seek a jury trial.
..... Afterward, the parties gathered and the judge told Baraka he would need to be processed. The judge conceded he was processed by agents when he was arrested but said it would have to happen again.
..... Baraka conferred with his attorneys, said, "That's horrible," but ended with, "Let's go," before a U.S. marshal escorted him out of the courtroom and into a restricted area of the courthouse.

The Delaney Hall arrest on May 9 [2025]

..... Video shared by the Baraka campaign with NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network showed Watson Coleman and McIver - and later Menendez - attempting to stop federal Homeland Security Investigations agents from detaining Baraka. At one point, a federal agent put his hands on McIver to reach Baraka with handcuffs. Menendez can be seen trying to stop federal officers as they tried to move Baraka, Watson Coleman and McIver away from a crowd of demonstrators.
..... Baraka was then led off in handcuffs by federal agents and taken to the Department of Hom,eland Security;s Newark Field Office on Frelinghuysen Avenue, where he was detained for several hours before being released.
..... Members of the Trump administration, including Habba, accused Baraka of trespassing and ignoring warnings to remove himself from the Delaney Hall premises.
..... They also threatened to file charges against the Congress members, with Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin saying they stormed the facility and calling it a "bizarre political stunt" that put the safety of agents and detainees at risk.
..... Baraka, after his release form detention on the evening of May 9, [2025] told the crowd that had gathered outside the field office," "I didn't do anything wrong," and said he had a right to be at Delaney Hall. His lawyers said the trespassing charge against him should have been dismissed and that the government's actions were "less concerned with unlawful conduct than with advancing its political and policy agenda by any means possible."
..... Baraka has targeted the 1,100-bed Delaney Hall as a symbol of the Trump administration's draconian immigration policy for months, including a March [2025] appearance where he was joined by social justice activists.
..... He said the building, refurbished to accommodate detainees, had not fulfilled the appropriate certificate of occupancy permits, and vowed to oppose its reopening as the project slogged through the Newark city Hall bureaucracy. Homeland Security says those allegations are false.

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