Ras J. Baraka, the mayor of Newark, accused the Department of Justice on Thursday of selectively prosecuting him nearly a week after federal officials arrested him and charged him with trespassing.
Mr. Baraka, a Democrat running for governor of New Jersey, appeared in federal court for the first time since his arrest on Friday outside a new immigration detention facility in Newark that is expected to play a crucial role in President Trump’s deportation efforts.
The Trump administration has accused Mr. Baraka, who has for weeks protested the opening of the facility, known as Delaney Hall, of barging past its entrance gates and refusing to leave. The mayor has vehemently denied the accusations.
He released video this week that he said showed him being “invited” past the gates before he was arrested, seemingly contradicting the federal government’s narrative that he had entered without permission.
On Thursday, during a brief preliminary hearing in Newark federal court, Mr. Baraka’s lawyers said they intended to file motions to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction and for selective prosecution, effectively casting his arrest as politically motivated.
Speaking to a crowd of more than 200 supporters after the hearing, Mr. Baraka described the trespassing charge, a misdemeanor, as a political spectacle orchestrated by the Trump administration that had “humiliated, degraded and demeaned” him.
“They believe that they are above the law,” he said. “We believe that I was targeted.”
He added, “We cannot arrest people simply because they disagree with us.”
Alina Habba, a lawyer for Mr. Trump whom he appointed New Jersey’s interim U.S. attorney, was also at the hearing, continuing the public-facing role she has assumed in the case. She has said that Mr. Baraka was arrested after he ignored multiple warnings to leave Delaney Hall.
Mr. Baraka’s arrest drew national attention and emerged as a visible flashpoint in the pushback to Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda, drawing a steady stream of activists and other elected officials to protest outside Delaney Hall.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered into a $1 billion contract with GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private prison companies, to turn the facility into a detention center that could hold up to 1,000 migrants.
The facility is set to play a significant role in ICE’s efforts to expand its detention capacity as it ramps up immigration arrests nationwide.
As the facility began holding detainees earlier this month, Mr. Baraka argued that it had opened without the proper permits or inspections from the city, leading him to file a lawsuit and protest outside the facility on a near daily basis. ICE and GEO Group have both said the facility has an adequate certificate of occupancy.
On Friday, three Democratic members of Congress from New Jersey arrived at Delaney Hall to conduct an “oversight” tour of the facility and were allowed in.
Mr. Baraka sought to join the congressional delegation but was denied entry, after initially being allowed past the gates, according to video footage and the mayor. The mayor and witnesses said he then exited the facility voluntarily.
Shortly after, several federal agents wearing face coverings and military fatigues appeared outside the gates to arrest the mayor, video shows, leading to a confusing scrum and a volatile clash between the officers, the mayor, his supporters and the three lawmakers.
The Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE, has pointed to footage from body-worn cameras it released to Fox News to argue that the members of Congress also “stormed” the facility and assaulted federal officers, even though the footage appears to be far from conclusive.
The three lawmakers — Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver — have forcefully pushed back against the federal government’s version of events, as have other witnesses who were at the scene.
In court on Thursday, Mr. Baraka’s lawyers said that all the publicly released videos of the incident were “exculpatory” and showed that Mr. Baraka was initially allowed into the property.
One lawyer, Raymond Brown, referred to public statements from Trump administration officials who said Mr. Baraka had “stormed Delaney Hall.” He then alluded to the storming of the Bastille, as well as the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“That’s storming,” he said. “It’s a term of art. He didn’t do it.”
Luis Ferré-Sadurní is a Times reporter covering immigration, focused on the influx of migrants arriving in the New York region.
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