Detainees at Delaney Hall, facility Newark mayor was protesting

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a federal immigration detention center where he has been protesting its opening this week.

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.

DHS said in its statement that the facility has the proper permits and inspections have been cleared.

ICE arrests in Newark

In a statement denouncing lawmakers, federal Homeland Security officials also highlighted some of the detainees at Delaney Hall and recent ICE arrests in Newark.

Jorge Luis Sanchez-Luna

Jorge Luis Sanchez-Luna, 45, was arrested on Feb. 5 in Neptune.

The Mexican national was first arrested in 2019 and then convicted last year of sexual conduct with a child under the age of 13 for six years.

Adonis Estevez Bello

Adonis Estevez Bello, 23, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was arrested on May 5. He has multiple drug trafficking and weapons convictions and is tied to the Dominicans Don't Play gang.

Chinchilla Caballero

Chinchilla Caballero was arrested April 29 in Bloomfield. He is tied to the MS-13 gang.

Hugo De La Torre-Tomailla

Hugo De La Torre-Tomailla, 62, a Peruvian national, was arrested Feb. 11 in Guttenberg. He is wanted in his home country on charges of raping a child.

Jaime Benjamin Sorto-Amaya

Jaime Benjamin Sorto-Amaya, a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested May 1 in Linden. He is tied to the MS-13 gang and is listed as a "suspected terrorist."

Lopez-Reyes

Lopez-Reyes was arrested Feb. 4 in Montclair. He had been wanted since November on charges of raping a child in Mexico.

Maximo Nunez

Maximo Nunez, 58, was arrested on May 5. The Dominican Republic national's record includes arrests for drugs, assault with a deadly weapon, and interfering with child custody.

Ramos Marin

Ramos Marin was arrested April 29 in Newark. He is wanted in Brazil on charges of homicide.

Saraiva Santamaria

Saraiva Santamaria was arrested May 1 in North Bergen. A citizen of El Salvador, he is tied to the MS-13 gang.

Julca-Tangoa

Julca-Tangoa (no first name provided), a Peruvian national who lived legally in Argentina, was arrested Jan. 27 in Paterson. He is wanted in Argentina on charges of sexually abusing a minor.

Newark detention facility sparks controversy

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 Trump’s plans to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from a budget of about 41,000 beds this year.

Baraka sued GEO Group soon after the deal was announced.

Geo touted the contract with Delaney Hall 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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.