Clergy and faith leaders rallied Monday outside an immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, protesting conditions at the ICE-run center where Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested three days earlier during a contentious oversight visit by members of Congress, N.J.com reported.
About two dozen religious leaders, including pastors and rabbis, linked arms Monday in front of the Delaney Hall detention facility, protesting immigrant detainment practices and the recent arrest of Baraka.
Delaney Hall has faced criticism previously for the conditions detainees face under private management contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The demonstration occurred outside the barbed wire-topped gates of the facility operated by GEO Group, a Florida-based private corrections company contracted by ICE.
"I'm here because my Universalist faith tells me to love the Hell out of this world," said the Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael of the Universalist Unitarian Congregation in Montclair, addressing over 100 demonstrators. "And what we are seeing in this world is Hell."
Monday's protest was organized by Faith in New Jersey, Faith in New York, Pax Christi, and other faith-based organizations, responding directly to Baraka's arrest last Friday.
Baraka was detained and held for approximately five hours after attempting to join three New Jersey Democrat congressional members conducting an oversight visit to the ICE facility. The mayor faces pending trespassing charges but was released Friday evening.
Friday's incursion quickly escalated into a heated confrontation between Department of Homeland Security officers and the lawmakers, who were attempting an inspection under Congressional oversight authority, CNN reported.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman was among the lawmakers asserting their legal right under the annual Appropriations Act, which explicitly permits members of Congress to enter "any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens" without prior notification.
Despite this authority, DHS officials pushed back, alleging that the lawmakers "stormed the gate" and accused them of being "holed up in a guard shack."
However, a spokesperson for Watson Coleman stated the delegation was eventually permitted entry between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. for the inspection.
Following the confrontation, DHS released a strongly worded statement, suggesting charges might be pursued against the lawmakers, alleging they illegally entered the facility.
Detractors argue that these claims were contradicted by the language of the Appropriations Act, which explicitly protects Congressional oversight activities.
During an appearance on CNN's "First of All" Saturday morning, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said ICE has video that could lead to more arrests.
"There will likely be more arrests coming," she said. "We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer."