An “emergency rally” in Manhattan on Saturday aims to criticize the Trump administration after ICE agents arrested Newark, NJ Mayor Ras Baraka and accosted several Members of Congress outside a federal detention center Friday.
Baraka, a Democratic candidate for New Jersey governor, was taken into custody Friday after attempting an unannounced inspection of Delaney Hall, a privately run ICE facility in Newark. The arrest came during a protest where Baraka was joined by elected officials, including two New Jersey members of Congress.
The Working Families Party (WFP), which is organizing the 2 p.m. rally at Foley Square, called the arrest “an attempt to intimidate [Baraka] and elected leaders across the country who refuse to cower to Trump and his deportation machine.”
Baraka was released Friday evening. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “I went to Delaney Hall to support my Congress people.”
Alina Habba, acting U.S. attorney and a former lawyer to Donald Trump, claimed on X that Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings” to leave the premises.
Witnesses said ICE agents also physically pushed US Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr. — all New Jersey Democrats – during the incident.
The WFP claims Baraka “was acting in his official capacity, conducting oversight over an immigration detention facility, when ICE illegally arrested him.”
“If Trump can do this to an elected official in Newark,” the group warned, “he’ll do this to an elected official in New York — and New Yorkers across the city must fight back.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries echoed those concerns.
“The concerns of elected officials about this unsanctioned facility will not be silenced by the Trump administration’s attempt to intimidate the public,” he said. “We will never bend the knee. Keep your hands off of Members of Congress.”
Saturday’s rally will include groups such as Make the Road Action, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, and NYIC Action. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, and Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani are expected to speak; Lander and Mamdani are running for NYC mayor.
