Lawmakers who protested at Newark detention centre could be charged after ‘mob’ scene, says DHS

Lawmakers who protested at Newark detention centre could be charged after ‘mob’ scene, says DHS (Picture credit: AP)

The department of homeland security (DHS) has launched an investigation into what it described as a violent altercation involving three Democratic lawmakers during a confrontation outside the newly opened Delaney Hall immigration detention centre in Newark, New Jersey. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested at the scene, and federal officials now say assault charges against members of Congress are “definitely on the table.”Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, was quoted by CNN as saying that the department is reviewing bodycam footage that shows “members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body-slamming a female ICE officer.” The agency alleges the confrontation erupted after Baraka refused to comply with repeated warnings to leave the premises.According to DHS, the incident escalated when a group, including Reps Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver, stormed the gate of the facility without notice or clearance. “A group of protestors, including two members of the US House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility,” the department said in a statement quoted by news agency AP. The lawmakers maintain they were conducting a legal oversight visit, which under federal law does not require advance notice.The department said Mayor Baraka was told multiple times to vacate the property before he was arrested on trespassing charges by agents with Homeland Security Investigations. Acting US attorney Alina Habba stated on X that the mayor had “chosen to disregard the law,” ignoring clear orders to leave Delaney Hall, a facility run by the private prison operator GEO Group under a 15-year, $1 billion contract awarded in February.The incident unfolded Friday afternoon as detainees were being transported into the facility. DHS claims the presence of lawmakers and protesters created a security risk and disrupted operations. McLaughlin described the scene as a “mob” that overwhelmed law enforcement officers.However, video footage released to Fox News was inconclusive, and accounts from activists and lawmakers contradict DHS’s version of events, reported The New York Times. As per AP, a video showed Baraka on the public side of the gate at the time of his arrest. “I’m not on their property. They can’t come out on the street and arrest me,” Baraka is heard saying moments before ICE agents detained him.DHS maintains that the mayor’s entry was unauthorised and politically motivated. McLaughlin accused Baraka, who is running for governor, of “playing political games,” and insisted that proper procedures exist for requesting facility access—procedures she said Baraka and his team ignored.The department also criticised the lawmakers’ decision to arrive unannounced. “If a congressional tour had been requested, it would have been facilitated,” DHS said, pushing back against suggestions that it attempted to block oversight. Ned Cooper, a spokesperson for Rep Watson Coleman, said they had every right to inspect the facility unannounced, as they have done elsewhere.