The Arrest of Ras Baraka: A Wake-Up Call.
A Stark Reminder of the Dangers of For-Profit Immigrant Prisons
The mayor has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s deportation policies, arguing in a February gubernatorial debate that Trump’s policies were “based in white supremacy and racism.” — NBC News
The arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka outside a privately operated immigrant detention center was more than just a political flashpoint—it serves as a warning about the growing threat of fascism and the influence of global for-profit mass incarceration corporations.
Mayor Baraka, the son of Newark’s legendary, revolutionary poet, Amiri Baraka, wasn’t at the Delaney Hall detention center site on Friday in protest. He was there to participate in a press conference with a congressional delegation, including Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver.
Watson Coleman stated that the trio arrived unannounced because they had planned to inspect the facility, not take a scheduled tour, as previously reported. She also accused the Department of Homeland Security of intentionally misleading the public with the information released in the wake of Baraka’s detention.
Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, and Trump’s “personal attorney”, said in a post on X that the Democratic mayor trespassed and “ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security” officials to “remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon.”
“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state,” Habba added. “No one is above the law.” [Hold laughter, please.]
Watson Coleman countered Habba’s and DHS claims:
“Contrary to a press statement put out by DHS, we did not ‘storm’ the detention center,” she wrote. “The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn’t even correctly count the number of Representatives present. We were exercising our legal oversight function as we have done at the Elizabeth Detention Center without incident.”
Baraka attempted to enter the facility alongside the delegation, but he was blocked by federal officials, sparking tensions that continued to escalate. Video of the altercation shows a federal official telling Baraka, “You're not a Congress member. You're not allowed to enter the facility.” The mayor then returned to the public side of the gate before a man in a suit could be heard telling him, “They’re talking about coming back to arrest you.”
“I’m not on their property,” the mayor then said. “They can’t come out on the street and arrest me.” Within minutes, Baraka, a Democrat who’s running for governor, was surrounded by masked ICE agents who put him in handcuffs and hauled him off in an unmarked car. He spent several hours in custody before he was freed around 8 p.m. the same night.
Linda Baraka, the mayor’s wife, accused the federal government of targeting her husband.
“They didn’t arrest anyone else. They didn’t ask anyone else to leave. They wanted to make an example out of the mayor,” she said, adding that she had not been allowed to see him.
A crowd gathered to protest outside the building where Baraka was being held, with many chanting: “Let the mayor go!”
Coleman, in a tweet, said the visit had been an attempt to establish conditions inside. “We’ve heard stories of what it’s like in other Ice prisons. We’re exercising our oversight authority to see for ourselves.”
“Ice is out of control,” she said. “Ice thinks it can intimidate all of us. And it cannot intimidate any of us. And we the people will make sure that this administration adheres to the rules that separate us from dictatorships and other third-world countries.”
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Baraka has been released, but his arrest sheds light on the corrupt relationship between private companies like GEO Group and the Trump regime. GEO is one of several that make superprofits from the suffering of immigrants while funding Republican campaigns, including those of Donald Trump. In February, ICE, at Trump’s direction, awarded a 15-year contract to Geo Group Inc. to run the 1,000-bed detention center in New Jersey’s biggest city.
Prison prison companies should not dictate immigration policy, yet GEO Group and others fund politicians who push for mass detention. GEO Group and CoreCivic have long lobbied for harsher immigration policies, ensuring a steady flow of detainees into their facilities. GEO invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. GEO has been the subject of civil suits by prisoners and families of prisoners for injuries due to riots and poor treatment at prisons and immigrant detention facilities, which it has operated.
CoreCivic, Inc. (formerly Corrections Corporation of America) is one of the largest private corrections companies in the U.S., managing over 65 facilities with a capacity of more than 76,000 beds. In addition to immigration lock-ups, CoreCivic operates jails, prisons, and “residential reentry centers,” also known as halfway houses.
Approximately 90% of the shares of GEO Group and CoreCivic are held by institutional investors, including BlackRock, Vanguard, and Goldman Sachs.
These companies receive billions in federal contracts to detain immigrants, often in inhumane conditions. They donate generously to Republican campaigns, including Trump’s, to secure favorable policies.
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On January 26, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14006 directing the Justice Department to cease the renewal of federal contracts with private prisons. As a result, in 2021, the Geo Group reported that it had closed six of its facilities and that its last facility under direct contract with the Bureau of Prisons would phase out in September 2022. They reported that this resulted in a decline of $240 million in revenue for the 2021 fiscal year.
But in the first three months of taking power, Trump has made his priority the rapid expansion of private immigrant detention centers, such as Delaney Hall, signaling an unmistakable shift toward authoritarian, autocratic governance where mass incarceration is used as a tool of political control rather than law enforcement.
Baraka’s Arrest: A Symbol of Resistance
Mayor Baraka’s protest against the Delaney Hall detention center was a stand against government-backed corporate profiteering. His arrest, while attempting to inspect the facility alongside members of Congress, highlights how the regime is using extralegal means to impose its political will and prioritize private prison interests over public accountability.
Private detention centers prioritize profit over human rights, leading to abuse, neglect, and deaths in custody. They exploit detainees for labor, paying them as little as $1 per day for work inside detention centers. GEO Group and CoreCivic reportedly receive $120–$150 per day per detainee for ICE detention facilities. Contracts often include "bed occupancy guarantees," requiring governments to maintain a minimum number of inmates or pay penalties for empty beds. Now, more than 70% of ICE detainees are housed in privately operated facilities, making immigration enforcement a key source of revenue for private prison companies.
Public oversight is nearly nonexistent, allowing inhumane conditions to persist unchecked. Mass immigration raids, where masked, unidentified goons carry out ICE raids and make arrests, detain, and even “disappear” people, are illegal, say the courts. Contracted mercenaries or Proud Boy thugs may be involved in these round-ups. Trump’s “Border Czar” Tom Homan has reportedly met with Terry Newsome, an associate of the Proud Boys, on at least four separate occasions. Newsome has been linked to Proud Boys activities, including harassing LGBTQ+ events and sharing racist imagery online.
Some prominent military contractors have submitted a pitch to Trump advisers of a $25 billion offer to execute mass deportations through “processing camps” on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a “small army” of private citizens who can make arrests.
With no due process, as mandated by the Constitution, all this makes it easier for the regime to expand detention practices beyond immigrants, targeting U.S. citizens, activists, and political opponents.
A Call to Action
The arrest of Mayor Baraka should ignite a movement to end private immigrant detention and dismantle the profit-driven incarceration industry. Democracy cannot coexist with an industrialized system of detention. The fight against immigrant mass incarceration is a fight to resist fascism and to preserve and defend democratic freedoms for all in this country.
The ICE facility itself was violating the law, ignoring Newark's building and land use codes. Mayor Baraka had every right to inspect it. Again, they are pointing their spear at what they perceive as 'weak links' in our chains of opposition, a Black mayor connected to a radical and legendary father. But they are ignoring or blind to the deep support for the Barakas in Newark and elsewhere. Raise a banner defending Ras in the next rounds of 50501 street heat, and more. If we don't hit back, it only grows stronger.