Democratic Congress members who visited detention center with mayor say Ice officials \u2018created the chaos\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump administration<\/a> homeland security officials were responsible for starting the confrontation on Friday at a New Jersey<\/a> immigration jail that led to the arrest of Newark\u2019s mayor<\/a> as well as threats to detain three members of Congress<\/a>, the representatives said Sunday on CNN\u2019s State of the Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Democratic<\/a> representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez \u2013 all of New Jersey \u2013 visited the controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center known as Delaney Hall on Friday to inspect the facility. As they waited to enter Delaney Hall, Newark\u2019s mayor, Ras Baraka, arrived \u2013 and as he left the property, he was arrested outside by Ice officials accusing him of trespassing, leading to a commotion at the entrance of the jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There evidently was shoving and pushing between federal immigration officials and the members of Congress, which Watson Coleman, McIver and Menendez blamed on the immigration officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On CNN\u2019s State of the Union, the Congress members said immigration officials had ample opportunity to deescalate the situation before someone called in and instructed masked agents to arrest Baraka<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey created that confrontation, they created that chaos,\u201d McIver said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the ordeal on Friday at Delaney Hall, homeland security officials have accused<\/a> the Congress members of staging a \u201cbizarre political stunt\u201d there while also accusing McIver<\/a> of \u201cbodyslamming\u201d authorities at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McIver rejected those allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI honestly do not know how to bodyslam anyone,\u201d McIver said. \u201cThere\u2019s no video that supports me bodyslamming anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were simply there to do our job \u2013 there for an oversight visit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For their part, officials have threatened to arrest the three members of Congress in connection with Friday\u2019s commotion at Delaney Hall. Watson Coleman told CNN on Sunday that those threats stemmed from the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cdetermination to intimidate people in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Delaney Hall facility was recently reopened by Ice, as the agency continues to expand its detention network<\/a> to assist in the Trump administration\u2019s aspirations to carry out mass deportations. The facility operator says it has the capacity to detain 1,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Delaney Hall is owned by Geo Group<\/a>, a massive, private prison company with Ice facilities throughout the US. The Trump administration in February gave a 15-year contract worth $1bn to Geo Group to operate Delaney Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the new contract comes amid legal challenges to Ice detention<\/a> in New Jersey. Newark\u2019s municipal government recently filed a lawsuit against Geo Group claiming that the company did not have the proper permits to operate the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also a separate legal battle playing out in a federal appellate court related to private immigration detention in the state. In 2021, Phil Murphy, the New Jersey<\/a> governor, signed a law barring immigration detention in the state. Another private prison company, CoreCivic, which runs the only other immigration jail in the state, sued New Jersey\u2019s state government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n