NEWARK, New Jersey — Ras Baraka, the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city and a Democratic candidate for governor, said a trespassing charge against him was “silly,” “petty” and should be dropped after he appeared in federal court Thursday morning.
The charge — which came after he tried to tour a federal immigration detention facility in his city but was arrested by federal agents during a scrum that involved three members of Congress — continues to be higher profile than the typical single misdemeanor case would be. Now it appears headed for trial in mid-July, a month after the gubernatorial primary.
Throngs of supporters again showed up for Baraka, as they did last week when he was first arrested.
The interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, sat in during Baraka’s brief court appearance but did not make public remarks.
“There’s no real case here, there’s nothing real here, there’s no there there,” Baraka said in a press conference outside the courthouse.
The hearing itself was fairly perfunctory, resulting in a schedule for future action. But Habba’s appearance to jeers from Baraka supporters when she entered the courthouse suggests the government is not going to drop the charges.
Baraka’s defense team is planning to argue about jurisdictional issues and selective prosecution, because Baraka was the only person arrested. He appeared before a federal magistrate judge after his arrest and was released that night, so Thursday was the mayor’s first in-person court appearance.
Trump administration officials have also suggested they are looking into further charges against the members of Congress — Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman — who were there to inspect the facility and then got involved in a scrum with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. On Wednesday, Republicans used a congressional hearing with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to urge action against the three New Jersey Democrats.
Both sides have accused each other of assault. The situation was escalated after Baraka was asked to leave a gated area of the facility. He did, then agents came out to arrest him, while members of Congress shielded him. At one point, a federal agent shoved a member of Congress trying to reenter the facility, according to video and two of the members.
Raymond Brown, an attorney for Baraka, referred Thursday to public statements from Trump administration officials who said Baraka “stormed Delaney Hall” and then made references to storming the Bastille and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“That’s storming. It’s a term of art. He didn’t do it,” Brown said.
Baraka said he had to take a mugshot and give his fingerprints again Thursday. He also did that last week at a homeland security field office but was told he needed to be processed again. He said those procedures were an attempt to humiliate him.
Habba’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment but during the hearing said they have evidence to support the charge.
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