Newark Mayor Sues Alina Habba For Arrest At Immigration Detention Center

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is suing Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, for false arrest, malicious prosecution and defamation after he was arrested and detained for trespassing at an immigration detention center on May 9.

The lawsuit alleges that Habba, formerly the personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, directed Homeland Security agent Ricky Patel, who is also a named defendant, to falsely arrest Baraka for trespassing after he entered and then left a private detention facility in Newark used to house immigrants.

The arrest was executed as part of a political scheme to damage Democratic Party politicians in the state, the suit alleges. It also charges Habba with defaming Baraka by issuing false statements about the events that led to his arrest.

Habba’s office and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Baraka, who is currently running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in New Jersey, was arrested by Homeland Security officers on May 9 at a GEO Group detention facility in Newark when three New Jersey members of Congress sought to inspect the facility.

For months prior, Baraka had publicly raised concerns that the facility had not undergone proper inspections or received the required certifications for operation by the city. The three Democratic lawmakers — Reps. Rob Menendez, Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver — who are legally required to be granted access to any immigration detention facility, invited Baraka to join them.

When Baraka arrived, he was invited onto the facility grounds by an agent of the facility operator after a crowd of protesters chanted for him to be given access. This was meant to “calm the crowd,” the lawsuit states. Soon afterwards, Patel asked Baraka to leave, which he did.

The Democratic lawmakers, still inside the facility, overheard Patel receive and give orders to arrest Baraka for trespassing, according to Baraka’s lawsuit. Homeland Security officers then left the facility grounds to arrest the mayor.

A scrum ensued, in which Homeland Security officers pushed Baraka’s security detail aside to arrest him and the members of Congress sought to put themselves between the officers and Baraka. Habba’s office would later charge McIver with assault on an officer, despite no evidence from the copious video taken during the event that such an assault occurred.

Baraka was then taken into custody, fingerprinted, photographed, interrogated and held for hours before seeing a judge. Just 10 days later, Habba dropped the charges, and a federal judge admonished her office for arresting the mayor and bringing charges in the first place.

The lawsuit argues that the affidavit charging Baraka with trespass was false, as the mayor had been invited onto the facility grounds and left the premises after Patel asked him to do so.

“The false affidavit was made with malice, particularly seeking to assure that the evening news included videos of the Black Mayor of Newark, New Jersey being led away in handcuffs by federal officials,” the complaint states.

Baraka’s lawsuit further argues that Habba’s political statements when Trump appointed her to her current position are evidence that his arrest was geared toward a political agenda separate from the prosecutorial work of a U.S. attorney. This includes Habba’s claim that her work as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey aimed to “turn New Jersey red.”

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Habba defamed Baraka by lying about the events that preceded his arrest on the social media site X and in an appearance on Fox News. She claimed on X that Baraka “has willingly chosen to disregard the law” by ignoring “multiple warnings” to leave the facility grounds. Baraka “refused to leave,” Habba said on Fox News.

These statements were repeated or amplified by Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who claimed on CNN that Baraka “broke into a detention facility” and was arrested for “storming an ICE facility.”

The lawsuit, filed in the federal district court for New Jersey, seeks unspecified monetary damages and attorney fees.

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