Newark mayor blasts ICE for surprise operation that resulted in multiple people detained
NEWARK, N.J. -- The mayor of Newark, New Jersey responded Friday after ICE agents stormed a business in the city and took people into custody Thursday morning.
Mayor Ras Baraka called it a "raid," but it's unclear exactly why ICE went into the business.
The mayor said undocumented residents, as well as U.S. citizens, were questioned, including a U.S. military veteran who suffered the "indignity of having the legitimacy of his service documentation questioned."
"Some ICE agents raided a business in our city without a warrant," Baraka told reporters Friday morning. "We believe there were three people, who they say were undocumented, that they detained. But they also detained folks that were, in fact, citizens of this country. One person showed their military veteran identification and was still questioned anyway. People were fingerprinted, pictures of their IDs and face were taken there."
Baraka initially released a statement blasting the move, then held a news conference Friday to condemn what happened.
"The problem with it is that ICE went in there without a warrant," he said. "And we can disagree on politics, you can disagree with me about the role immigrants play in the economy of our community, you can disagree with me about the fact that most immigrants are not criminals, in fact, they are victims of violence in cities. We can disagree about whether you support mass deportation or not. But what we must agree on is that the thing that separates this country from many other countries around the world is the Constitution of the United States."
The mayor, who is running to replace outgoing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, told reporters he was "appalled, upset, angry" over the operation, adding his office also received hateful messages for speaking out against it.
"I don't care if you write a thousand terrible emails, call me all day every day," he said. "The fact of the matter is we believe in democracy in Newark, New Jersey, and we're going to stand on democracy here, and we're going to fight for all of our residents in this city no matter what that looks like for us."
Newark fish market workers describe what happened
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson confirmed the agency conducted an operation at the worksite Thursday, but did not provide any further details.
"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual's identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark, New Jersey," the spokesperson wrote in a statement. "This is an active investigation and, per ICE policy, we cannot discuss ongoing investigations."
"How do you determine who's undocumented and who's a criminal just by looking at them? And if we allow people to identify us or put us in categories of 'criminal' or any other thing just by the way we look," Baraka said.
Surveillance video and photos showed federal agents surrounding the Ocean Seafood Depot located at Adams and Delancey streets in Newark.
The owner of the fish market told CBS News New York a dozen ICE agents came in unannounced around 11 a.m. Thursday, asked to check his employees' identification and ended up taking three people into custody.
"They didn't have a court order, or, I didn't even ask. At the time, didn't remember to ask," the owner said, adding, "Twenty-six years in business, I've never seen anything like this."
Some warehouse employees said it was a terrifying experience.
"People [are] like a little bit afraid, because they're working for many times here," said worker Eugenia DeSilva. "They asked for documentations and something like that, but they don't have documentation."
"People is afraid. I got phone calls from friends and family saying what should I do?" Newark businessowner Elsa Gude said.
Trump administration targeting immigration
CBS News New York has been looking at administrative arrest data from 2017 to 2024, which shows ICE making and average of 393 daily arrests in 2017 and 434 in 2018 under President Donald Trump's first term, and then making an average of 283 daily arrests in 2020 and 203 in 2021 under former President Joe Biden.
Arrest warrants are required for ICE to enter a business establishment and make arrests on the premises. Administrative arrests can include people charged with criminal offenses and people with immigration violations.
ICE's directive has been to go after criminals, which Gude has no problem with.
"They should go against all these murderers, people that is robbery, drugs. Focus on those people, but not on the working community. Portuguese, Brazilian, Ecuadorians, Mexicans - they have rights in this country," Gude said.
New Jersey is a sanctuary state which limits authorities from enforcing immigration violations. An attorney general's office directive clarifies that, saying immigrant communities need to trust local officers.
Birthright citizenship move blocked
Thursday's operation came as the president was dealt a blow in another controversial immigration directive. A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's order ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented migrants and temporary visa holders.
New Jersey led a coalition of 18 states that filed a lawsuit against the order.
"Birthright citizenship has been a part of the fabric of our nation for centuries, and the only period in which birthright citizenship wasn't universally recognized as a right for people born on U.S. soil was the Civil War in the wake of the Dread Scott decision," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin told CBS News in an interview Friday. "The phrase that the administration is focused on, 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof,' they're really twisting themselves in knots to say that it does not apply to children born here. It has been universally accepted that it does, and they're going to have a hard time."
"The reason why the federal judge essentially laughed that argument out of court yesterday is because it is ridiculous," he added.
