from the never-give-buffoons-power dept
You can believe any version of this story you want, but there’s no version that makes ICE and the DHS look like heroes protecting themselves from an actual threat. Let’s first take a look at the local reporting from where ICE is putting boots on the ground: Newark, New Jersey.
Three House of Representatives members decided to pay an unannounced visit to the ICE detention center in Newark. The detention center is being run by GeoGroup — one of a handful of private prison contractors that are oh so thrilled the Trump administration’s war on people who look kinda Mexican is going to keep them exorbitantly funded for the next several years.
Alina Habba, the interim US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, proudly announced the arrest of known scofflaw, Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, claiming he had “trespassed” and “ignored multiple warnings” to exit ICE’s rented property.
Here’s how that all went down, according to others on the scene, as well as a recording captured by one of the people attending the anti-ICE protest:
Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join a scheduled tour of the facility with three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
When federal officials blocked his entry, a heated argument broke out, according to Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It continued even after Baraka returned to the public side of the gates.
In video of the altercation shared with The Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the logo of the Homeland Security Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not join a tour of the facility because “you are not a congress member.”
Baraka then left the secure area, rejoining protesters on the public side of the gate. Video showed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit, who 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.
Here’s the Associated Press reporting, which verifies much of what’s asserted in PIX11’s local reporting. A few things immediately stand out. First, an HSI officer told Baraka he couldn’t come in because he wasn’t a member of Congress, which suggests the main problem HSI had with the Newark mayor was that he was exceeding his authority to perform an unannounced inspection of a federal facility.
And that may be true. But that wasn’t the story presented by the DHS. And, despite Baraka agreeing to exit the inner area and return to the public street, federal officers arrested him anyway.
Then the DHS released this hilariously skewed interpretation of this interaction as the official version of what went down that day at the Newark facility:
Members of Congress Break into Delaney Hall Detention Center
Today, as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center, a group of protestors, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility. Representatives Robert Menendez, Jr. and Bonnie Watson Coleman and multiple protestors are holed up in a guard shack, the first security check point.
“Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk. Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility. This is an evolving situation,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
Once we’ve processed the description of the events that claims these things happened and are still happening simultaneously, we’re now faced with the unlikely prospect of taking the phrase “storming into a detention facility” at face value.
The latest development is McLaughlin’s insistence the DHS is looking into arresting the three House representatives for their actions: the aforementioned “storming” of the ICE palace, etc., along with McLaughlin’s claim the reps “assaulted” ICE officers and “body slammed” one of them. Those “suspects” apparently include 80-year-old cancer survivor Congressional rep Bonnie Coleman.
Also, it’s pretty tough to “storm” a place that you’ve been given the power — and then the direct permission to enter:
Watson Coleman’s office told Axios they “arrived at Delaney Hall today at about 1PM to exercise their oversight authority as prescribed by law. After a period of explaining the law to the officials at the site they were escorted in.”
Despite all of the above happening, the DHS still thinks it might be a good idea to arrest government officials for trespassing. But it’s not even a good idea to publicly announce you might be considering bringing criminal charges. There are three co-equal branches of the government: the legislative, judicial, and executive. Guess what falls beneath all of those top-tier branches: every single federal agency, including the DHS, ICE, and the private contractors the government hires to handle its dirty work.
Arresting the mayor was the only option for a bunch of federal officers who wanted to punish someone for something after three members of Congress successfully played their oversight card. All of this is stupid and performative. It reeks of punitive desperation: the knee-jerk vindictive moves of people who just can’t handle being mildly inconvenienced, much less held to account by people outside of their respective agencies.
Filed Under: alina habba, bonnie watson coleman, detention center, dhs, donald trump, ice, immigration, lamonica mciver, new jersey, newark, ras baraka, robert menendez jr., tricia mclaughlin
Companies: geogroup
