Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a federal immigration detention center where he has been protesting its opening this week and held in custody for several hours.Related video above: Mass. police respond after ICE arrest draws crowdBaraka was released shortly after 8 p.m. and, after stepping out of an SUV with flashing emergency lights, told waiting supporters: 맥스카지노�The reality is this: I didn't do anything wrong.맥스카지노�Baraka, a Democrat who is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has embraced the fight with the Trump administration over illegal immigration.He has aggressively pushed back against the construction and opening of the 1,000-bed detention center, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.Linda Baraka, the mayor맥스카지노�s wife, accused the federal government of targeting her husband.맥스카지노�They didn맥스카지노�t arrest anyone else. They didn맥스카지노�t ask anyone else to leave. They wanted to make an example out of the mayor,맥스카지노� 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, 맥스카지노�Let the mayor go!맥스카지노�Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka committed trespass and ignored warnings from Homeland Security personnel to leave Delaney Hall, a detention facility run by private prison operator Geo Group.Habba said Baraka had 맥스카지노�chosen to disregard the law맥스카지노� and added that he was taken into custody.Video of the incident showed that Baraka was arrested after returning to the public side of the gate to the facility.Witnesses describe a 맥스카지노�heated argument맥스카지노�Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join three members of New Jersey맥스카지노�s congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, in attempting to enter the facility.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.맥스카지노�There was yelling and pushing,맥스카지노� Martinez said. 맥스카지노�Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put Baraka in handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car.맥스카지노�In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the lawmakers had not asked for a tour of the facility. The department said further that as a bus carrying detainees was entering, 맥스카지노�a group of protestors, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.맥스카지노�Homeland Security did not respond to questions about why only the mayor was arrested.Watson Coleman spokesperson Ned Cooper said the lawmakers went to the facility early in the afternoon unannounced because their plan was to inspect it, not to take a scheduled tour.맥스카지노�They arrived, explained to the guards and the officials at the facility that they were there to exercise their oversight authority,맥스카지노� he said, adding that they were allowed to enter and inspect the center sometime between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.DHS, in its statement issued after Baraka's arrest, said Menendez, Watson Coleman and a number of protesters were currently 맥스카지노�holed up in a guard shack맥스카지노� at the facility.맥스카지노�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,맥스카지노� McLaughlin said.Watson Coleman, who left and was at a Homeland Security Investigations holding facility where Baraka was said to have been taken, said the DHS statement inaccurately characterized the visit.맥스카지노�Contrary to a press statement put out by DHS we did not 맥스카지노�storm맥스카지노� the detention center,맥스카지노� she wrote. 맥스카지노�The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn맥스카지노�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.맥스카지노�Video shows the mayor standing on the public side of the gateIn 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 맥스카지노�you are not a congress member.맥스카지노�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: 맥스카지노�They맥스카지노�re talking about coming back to arrest you.맥스카지노�맥스카지노�I맥스카지노�m not on their property. They can맥스카지노�t come out on the street and arrest me,맥스카지노� Baraka replied.Minutes later several ICE agents, some wearing face coverings, surrounded him and others on the public side. As protesters cried out, 맥스카지노�Shame,맥스카지노� Baraka was dragged back through the security gate in handcuffs.맥스카지노�The ICE personnel came out aggressively to arrest him and grab him,맥스카지노� said Julie Moreno, a New Jersey state captain of American Families United. 맥스카지노�It didn맥스카지노�t make any sense why they chose that moment to grab him while he was outside the gates.맥스카지노�An email and phone message left with the mayor맥스카지노�s communications office were not immediately answered Friday afternoon. Kabir Moss, a spokesperson for Baraka맥스카지노�s gubernatorial campaign, said, 맥스카지노�We are actively monitoring and will provide more details as they become available.맥스카지노�Several civil rights and immigration reform advocates as well as government officials condemned Baraka맥스카지노�s arrest. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, whose office is defending a state law barring private immigration detention facilities, criticized the arrest during a seemingly peaceful protest and said no state or local law enforcement agencies were involved.The history of the facilityThe two-story building next to a county prison formerly operated as a halfway house.In February, ICE awarded a 15-year contract to The Geo Group Inc. to run the Newark detention center. Geo valued the contract at $1 billion, in an unusually long and large agreement for ICE.The announcement was part of President Donald Trump맥스카지노�s plans to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from a budget of about 41,000 beds this year.Baraka sued Geo soon after the deal was announced.Geo touted the Delaney Hall contract during its earnings call with shareholders Wednesday, with CEO David Donahue saying it was expected to generate more than $60 million a year in revenue. He said the facility began the intake process May 1.Hall said the activation of the facility and another in Michigan would increase total capacity under contract with ICE from around 20,000 beds to around 23,000.DHS said in its statement that the facility has the proper permits and inspections have been cleared.___Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed.