New Jersey mayor says ICE detained veteran, US citizens in immigration raid
WOODLAND PARK, N.J. — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said U.S. immigration agents rounded up undocumented migrants as well as American citizens in a raid Thursday, just days after President Donald Trump issued a raft of executive orders that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration.
In a raid of a business establishment in Newark, New Jersey, outside New York City, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents failed to produce a warrant as they detained "undocumented residents as well as citizens," Baraka said in a statement.
"One of the detainees is a U.S. military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned," Baraka said. "This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures."
The mayor went on to say Newark will not “stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized.”
This raid comes just days after President Donald Trump returned to office. He has since signed a slew of executive orders to do everything from allowing ICE raids in houses of worship to eliminating birthright citizenship.
During his campaign, Trump threatened the deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants when he got back into the White House. More than 470,000 New Jersey residents are undocumented.
In a statement, an ICE spokesperson said that agents "may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting fieldwork and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark."
The spokesperson said that ICE was investigating the incident. Neither Baraka nor ICE identified the business raided by name.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on X that the Trump administration arrested 538 people on Thursday, describing all of them as "illegal immigrant criminals." She said they included members of a Venezuelan prison gang and people convicted of sex crimes.
'We will not back down'
Baraka isn't the only one to speak out against the raid.
Rep. LaMonica McIver, who represents Newark and previously served on the city council, said in a statement her office has "reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to get answers on exactly what happened, and how it was allowed that ICE came in − without a warrant and without justification − to detain not only immigrants but citizens and even a veteran of our nation’s military."
"Already, Trump’s attacks on immigrant communities are hitting home and we will not back down," she said. "We will always fight for the dignity and rights of everyone in our district and across the country."
A range of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans. Other studies find that immigrants in the U.S. illegally also do not commit crimes at a higher rate.
Nedia Morsy, deputy director of Make the Road NJ, an immigrant advocacy group, said, "ICE is a rogue agency that routinely violates the constitution and our civil rights − citizens and non-citizens alike."
"Today's reported raid in Newark is yet another example of how the Trump administration's anti-immigrant agenda harms everyone," Morsy said. "No one is safe when armed officers are empowered to raid our homes, our workplaces and our communities. Now, more than ever, New Jersey must take all necessary steps to protect all residents, including the more than two million immigrants that call the Garden State home."
New Jersey and the Trump administration
During Trump’s first term, the Department of Justice took the state to court about a state directive that limited how much New Jersey law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
The state attorney general's office had no comment on the raid but reiterated that the Immigrant Trust Directive of 2018 is still in effect. The state was often at odds with the Trump administration and frequently used the justice system to halt a variety of policies.
The threat of ICE raids during that time left many immigrant communities on edge.
Last month, the ACLU reported that private prison companies had submitted proposals to ICE that would add about 600 beds at two facilities in New Jersey.
That organization learned about the plans through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit; one would put more beds at the Elizabeth Detention Center, the last remaining immigration detention facility in the state, which is owned and operated by CoreCivic; the second, from the GEO Group, would create a new facility at the Albert M. Robinson Center in Trenton, New Jersey, a halfway house it used to own.
In August 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law barring New Jersey from entering into contracts with ICE to hold federal immigrant detainees. The law barred local and private jails from "entering into, renewing, or extending immigration detention agreements."
Within three months of the law going into effect, Essex, Hudson, and Bergen counties ended their long-standing contracts with ICE.
Contributing: Reuters