mayor

US attorney says Baraka ‘committed trespass’ during protest of facility, which he argues opened without proper permits.

Rights groups and Democratic officials have decried the arrest of the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, during a protest at an immigration detention centre.

Mayor Ras Baraka had joined several lawmakers at the detention centre, called Delaney Hall, for a demonstration on Friday.

For weeks, he has been among those protesting the recently opened 1,000-bed centre, which critics see as a key link in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

Those in attendance said Baraka sought to enter the facility along with members of the United States Congress on Friday, but he was denied entry.

A video reviewed by The Associated Press showed a federal official in a jacket with the logo for the Homeland Security Investigations unit telling Baraka he could not tour the facility because “you are not a congress member”.

Baraka then left the secure area, rejoining protesters on the public side of the centre’s gate. Video showed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit. The man said, “They’re talking about coming back to arrest you.”

“I’m not on their property. They can’t come out on the street and arrest me,” Baraka replied.

Moments later, several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, some wearing face coverings, surrounded the mayor and others on the public side of the gate. Baraka was dragged back through the security gate in handcuffs, while protesters yelled, “Shame!”

In a subsequent post on the social media platform X, Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal lawyer and acting US attorney for New Jersey, said Baraka had “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings” to leave.

“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state,” Habba wrote. “He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”

US Representative LaMonica McIver was also at the centre on Friday, along with Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr, to conduct what they called an “oversight inspection”.

In a post on X, McIver said Baraka “did nothing wrong” and had already left the facility at the time of his arrest.

“This is unacceptable,” McIver said in the video.

For its part, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security accused the lawmakers of “storming” the facility in a “bizarre political stunt”.

Baraka has said the detention centre — located in Newark, not far from New York City — opened despite not having the proper local permits and approvals. He has launched a lawsuit to halt its operations.

The GEO group, which runs the centre in coordination with ICE, has denied his claims. It entered into an agreement with the federal government in February to run the Delaney Hall facility, under a 15-year contract valued at $1bn.

‘Unjust arrest’

Local elected officials swiftly condemned the federal agents’ actions, with the state’s governor, Phil Murphy, writing on X that he was “outraged by the unjust arrest” of Baraka.

Murphy called the mayor an “exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable mayors” and appealed for his release.

The governor noted that New Jersey had previously passed a law banning private immigration detention centres in the state, a Democratic stronghold, although it was partially struck down by a federal court in 2023. An appeal is ongoing.

Baraka, who is running in next month’s Democratic primary for governor, has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

He struck a defiant tone against the Trump administration in January, after ICE raided businesses in the city he leads.

“Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorised,” he said at the time.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House could soon be closed to the public and lose its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site if budget cuts proposed by Mayor Karen Bass are passed by the City Council.

The architectural landmark, perched atop Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood, is managed by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, with two full-time staffers running tours on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays as well as handling the maintenance of the building, which is an early example of California Modernist architecture.

The mayor’s proposed budget, which attempts to close a nearly $1-billion shortfall in part by laying off more than 1,600 city employees, eliminates one of those two staff positions and also cuts two vacant positions at Hollyhock House.

The Cultural Affairs Department had been interviewing candidates for the vacant positions and had made an offer for the job of arts manager. But after the mayor released her proposed budget, the department had to rescind the offer and pause other job interviews.

“A single full-time staffer would not be able to manage both the tour program and preservation, necessitating the suspension of public tours until additional full-time staff could be restored,” said Juan Garcia, a spokesperson for the department.

Amid the massive budget shortfall caused in large part by rising personnel costs, soaring legal payouts and a slowdown in the local economy, department heads have been testifying before the City Council’s budget committee about how the mayor’s proposed cuts would affect city services.

The Cultural Affairs Department would face 14 layoffs and the elimination of 10 vacant positions, out of 91 total positions. The cuts also could lead to the closure of the Lincoln Heights Youth Arts Center, said Daniel Tarica, the department’s general manager.

Oil heiress Aline Barnsdall commissioned the Hollyhock House in 1918. She never lived in it, donating it to the city in 1927.

In 2019, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site — the only man-made World Heritage Site on the West Coast.

The house was closed for more than two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, reopening in August 2022 after undergoing major renovations.

The monumental fireplace, which brings together the four classical elements of earth, air, fire and water, was restored, as were the art-glass balcony doors in the master bedroom.

Two Wright-designed sofa tables, which the architect had said he considered “part of the house design itself,” were reinstalled.

The improvements also included a major restoration of the guest house.

The UNESCO designation required the house to have four full-time staffers, said Garcia, the spokesperson. The department has requested that the City Council restore the three positions in its final budget, which it must pass by June 1.

“The proposed staffing cuts will severely impact the management of Hollyhock House and subvert the baseline staffing commitments made by the City of Los Angeles as part of the site’s 2019 World Heritage List inscription,” Garcia said.

The proposed cuts shocked preservationists.

“UNESCO World Heritage status is a great honor that needs to be nurtured, not lost by taking public access away,” said Kim Cooper, one of two people behind Esotouric’s Secret Los Angeles, a tour company and preservationist blog. “Hollyhock House is the only one of Wright’s Los Angeles houses that people can tour, recently restored at great cost.”

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who represents the area, said it’s imperative to keep the house’s UNESCO status in light of the upcoming Olympic Games and World Cup.

“We’re exploring all options through the budget process to save our dedicated Hollyhock House staff and preserve its protected status,” he said in a statement.