Newark Mayor Ras Baraka filed a lawsuit on Tuesday towards interim U.S. Lawyer for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba, alleging that his Might arrest at an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention heart within the metropolis he governs was an act of political retribution.
“This is not about revenge or not about me going after individuals because I think they’ve wronged me specifically,” Baraka stated at a information convention after submitting his lawsuit, which accuses Habba of false arrest and malicious prosecution. “Ultimately I think this about them taking accountability for what has happened to me, what went on in the newspapers and the press, people saying that I went down there and got arrested on purpose, all these kind of things, I think this kind of defamation is out of line and I think they should respond.”
Habba—who served as Donald Trump’s private lawyer earlier than she acquired appointed to be New Jersey’s high federal legislation enforcement officer—stated Baraka was arrested on Might 9 at an ICE detention facility as a result of Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey.”
“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,” Habba wrote in a publish on X on the time.
Nevertheless, Habba ultimately dropped the fees towards Baraka, saying she was doing so “for the sake of moving forward”—when truly it was as a result of there was doubtless no proof to safe a conviction towards him. In that very same announcement, she introduced that she was as an alternative going after Rep. LaMonica McIver, one among three Home Democrats who have been on the ICE facility that very same day searching for to conduct oversight of the detention heart, accusing her of getting “assaulted, impeded, and interfered with law enforcement.” McIver is combating these expenses.
In his lawsuit, Baraka accused Habba of “acting for political reasons” when she ordered his arrest on the ICE detention heart. He added within the lawsuit that Habba was “fulfilling her stated goal of ‘turning New Jersey red’ by instigating and/or authorizing the false arrest of Mayor Baraka, a Democrat.”
He additionally accused Habba and the Trump administration of creating “false and defamatory” statements in regards to the occasions surrounding his arrest, together with a lie that Baraka and “a mob of protesters stormed” the power and that he was illegally coming into the detention heart regardless that he was invited there by the proprietor of the holding heart.
“Today I filed a federal lawsuit against Alina Habba and DHS Agent Ricky Patel for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and defamation. They abused their power to violently arrest me at Delaney Hall despite being invited inside. No one is above the law,” Baraka stated in a publish on X.
Associated | ‘Reign of terror’: Trump immigration raid blasted for concentrating on veteran
Baraka, for his half, has been talking up towards the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown—which has impacted town he leads. In January, Baraka stated Newark residents have been “being unlawfully terrorized” by the Trump administration’s immigration raids, which he stated violated residents’ Fourth Modification rights towards illegal searches and seizures.
He’s at the moment operating in a aggressive Democratic major for New Jersey’s open gubernatorial election being held this November. He filed his lawsuit the identical day early voting started for the first, through which he is dealing with a number of well-known Democrats together with Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer, Jersey Metropolis Mayor Steven Fulop, and former New Jersey state Sen. Stephen Sweeney. A latest ballot exhibits Sherrill within the lead, with Baraka tied with Fulop for second.
