Newark Mayor Ras Baraka filed a lawsuit Tuesday against interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and a Department of Homeland Security investigator, alleging that Habba defamed him and they violated his constitutional rights when he was arrested at a federal immigration detention center earlier this month.
Baraka brought the lawsuit against Habba, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, and Ricky J. Patel, a special agent in charge of the Newark division of Homeland Security investigations. The mayor alleges they violated his Fourth Amendment right against false arrest and malicious prosecution.
Baraka, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was arrested on trespassing charges after he and members of Congress attempted to enter an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark on May 9 to review the treatment of detainees. Those charges were later dropped.
Habba, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, had alleged that Baraka “ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security” officials to “remove himself” from the facility, and later said she was dismissing the misdemeanor charge “for the sake of moving forward.”
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately responded to NBC News’ requests for comment.
The Justice department later charged Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., with assaulting, resisting and impeding law enforcement officials over the incident at the facility. The DOJ also sued Newark and other New Jersey cities, including Paterson, Hoboken and Jersey City, over sanctu policies. In response, Baraka called the lawsuit “absurd.”
“We are not standing in the way of public safety,” Baraka said in a statement. “We are upholding the Constitution, providing oversight, and following the laws and guidelines of the State of New Jersey Nothing in our policies prevents law enforcement from doing their jobs. What we refuse to do is turn our city into an arm of federal immigration enforcement, which the courts have already ruled is not our role.”
