Republican leaders offered full-throated support for U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Friday. At least one member of Congress appeared to swing at federal law enforcement during the chaotic protest-turned-small scale riot.
“What we saw today is beyond unacceptable,” said Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R, NJ-02). “These elected officials, who swore to uphold the laws of this country, chose to break into a federal detention center, alongside protesters. For months now, I have spoken out against Mayor Baraka’s effort to block the opening of this detention center but today, we reached a breaking point. It was a direct attack on the rule of law. People in New Jersey are paying some of the highest taxes in the country, only to see that money used to fund illegal immigration as part of the state’s sanctuary policies. We are tired of it. No one is above the law. And when elected officials act as if they are, they undermine the very foundation of our democracy.”
“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,” Habba wrote on X. “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, who is also a Democrat candidate for governor in next month’s primary, stands accused of trespassing at a Newark-based ICE detention facility. New Jersey Democrat House members Monica McIver, Bob Menendez Jr., and Bonnie Watson Coleman flocked to Delaney Hall to virtue-signal on Baraka’s behalf following the arrest.
At one point (see below), McIver appeared to swing at federal law enforcement.
“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,” GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Jack Ciattarelli opined in his own X post. “And yet its Mayor and leading Democrat candidate for Governor, @rasjbaraka, is busy shilling for illegal Immigrants at an ICE detention center with a cheap publicity stunt. Shameful.”
BREAKING: Rep. LaMonica McIver (red jacket) attacks law enforcement after storming New Jersey’s ICE facility pic.twitter.com/cAx0fk5Rgb
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 9, 2025
