Feds Tried To Humiliate Me With Second Mugshot

[ad_1] by Daniel Johnson Might 18, 2025

Baraka says second mugshot was payback for opposing ICE insurance policies.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat, stated he believes federal prosecutors tried to humiliate him by forcing him to offer fingerprints and take a second mugshot throughout his Might 15 processing. His arrest and trespassing fees stemmed from his attendance at a press convention outdoors an immigration detention middle alongside members of Congress.

In response to The Guardian, Baraka made these claims as a part of a procedural listening to in Justice of the Peace decide André Espinosa’s courtroom that lined scheduling for discovery within the case, which lasted roughly quarter-hour.

There was some obvious confusion over whether or not Baraka had already been fingerprinted and processed. After the decide closed the proceedings, he acknowledged that Baraka nonetheless wanted to be processed by the U.S. Marshals Service—a directive that puzzled Baraka, who responded that he had already accomplished processing following his arrest.

Decide Espinosa stated that “brokers” processed Baraka, however not the marshals, which Baraka accepted by saying “Let’s go,” and motioning that he would go willingly with the marshals.

Later, after the listening to, Baraka delivered a proof to his supporters outdoors the constructing as to why it took him so lengthy to return out of the constructing.

“They’re attempting their greatest to humiliate and degrade me as a lot as they presumably can,” the mayor stated. “I really feel like what we did was utterly appropriate. We didn't violate any legal guidelines. We stood up for the structure of this nation, the structure of the state of New Jersey.”

In response to Rahul Agarwal, one in all Baraka’s attorneys, the protection will argue to dismiss the costs as a result of it's a “selective prosecution” and Baraka was arrested by federal brokers on personal property, earlier than including that the mayor was the one one arrested throughout the protest.

For context, Baraka has been outspoken towards Donald Trump’s immigration coverage and the opening of an ICE detention facility in Newark. Given these details, many expressed their views that the arrest and subsequent fees towards Baraka are types of political retribution for his principled stances.

Ras Baraka did not trespass—he protested privatized immigration prisons. Trump's DOJ desires to criminalize dissent and erase native energy.https://t.co/0xbfgKOq6g

— The Nation (@thenation) Might 18, 2025

US Lawyer for New Jersey Alina Habba notifies courtroom that the Justice Dept doesn't consider a preliminary listening to is critical Thursday within the case of Newark mayor Ras Baraka

…. as a result of it is a "petty offense" case, she argues pic.twitter.com/POHZpkdBMD

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) Might 13, 2025

The arrest and prosecution of elected officers like Mayor Ras Baraka and Decide Hannah Dugan portend a daunting escalation in Trump’s drive to authoritarianism. https://t.co/QNowb1zytc

— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) Might 17, 2025

In a dialog with The Nation, Baraka positioned his actions not as a protest, however merely the attendance of a press convention whereas expressing his disdain for The GEO Group

The GEO Group is a personal jail firm that owns Delaney Corridor, the positioning the place Baraka was arrested, and has a 15-year, $60 million a yr contract with ICE, the topic of a authorized dispute in New Jersey associated to ICE’s outsourcing of its follow of mass detention to non-public jail teams like GEO.

“We weren't protesting,” Baraka informed the outlet. “I got here down there to attend a press convention. The dispute is with GEO. It all the time has been with GEO. I don't suppose persons are seeing what’s occurring right here clearly sufficient. We're shifting quick into authoritarianism.”

The mayor continued, “We will’t acquiesce to that. I believe this is a chance for states to develop into labs of democracy to attempt the whole lot that we now have not tried earlier than. We have to work out a technique to construct a democracy outdoors these of us and their push to dismember democracy on this nation.”

Baraka concluded, “The fact is we’ve been combating for a very long time to, as Dr. King stated, to make America dwell up to what's written on paper. That’s actually what that is about. And there are individuals who need to renege on that promise as a result of it doesn’t profit them individually. There are a lot of of us on this nation who disagree with that, who consider that everyone who resides right here, who comes right here, ought to have a chance to take part within the best thought within the historical past of the world.”