Latest news with #RobertMenendez
Boston Globe
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka set to appear in court on charge of trespassing at immigration facility
Witnesses said the arrest last week came after Baraka attempted to join three members of New Jersey's congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, in attempting to enter the facility. Advertisement Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday decried the 'spectacle' at the detention facility, calling it a 'new low for congressional Democrats.' He said Republicans are having conversations about possible disciplinary action, including censuring the three Democrats or removing them from House committees. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Messages seeking comment Wednesday were left with the members of Congress who were there. Baraka, an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and a vocal opponent of the facility's opening, returned to the center Tuesday, but left without incident. It was not immediately clear how Baraka's appearance at the gates Tuesday differed from Friday when he was arrested. He has denied being on the detention facility's property, which is run by private prison operator Geo Group. Advertisement In video of the Friday altercation shared with The Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the Homeland Security Investigations logo can be heard telling Baraka he could not enter the facility because 'you are not a Congress member.' Baraka then left the secure area, rejoining protesters on the public side of the gate. Video showed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit, who said: 'They're talking about coming back to arrest you.' 'I'm not on their property. They can't come out on the street and arrest me,' Baraka replied. Minutes later, several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, some wearing face coverings, surrounded him and others on the public side. Baraka was dragged back through the gate in handcuffs. Delaney Hall is a two-story building next to a county prison and formerly operated as a halfway house. In February, ICE awarded a 15-year contract to The Geo Group Inc. to run the detention center. Geo valued the contract at $1 billion in an unusually long and large agreement for ICE. Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam in Washington contributed to this report.
Fox News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
SCOOP: Democrats who 'stormed' Newark ICE facility could be stripped of committees in new House bill
Print Close By Elizabeth Elkind Published May 13, 2025 FIRST ON FOX: A Republican lawmaker is moving to have three of his Democratic colleagues removed from their House committees after they were accused of "storming" a federal detention facility in defense of illegal immigrants in New Jersey. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., introduced a resolution on Tuesday to strip Reps. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., and LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., of their committee assignments. The New Jersey Democrats were part of a group of protesters who rushed into Delaney Hall Detention Center after the gates opened for a bus carrying a group of detainees into the facility. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused them of breaking in and risking the safety of both law enforcement and detainees for what it called a political stunt. BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT'S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY The lawmakers and their supporters, however, maintained they were exercising their constitutional duty and accused ICE agents of assaulting McIver and Watson Coleman. "The radical left has lost their minds – they would rather raid an ICE facility to defend criminal illegal immigrants than represent their own constituents," Carter told Fox News Digital of his legislation. "This behavior constitutes an assault on our brave ICE agents and undermines the rule of law. The three members involved in this stunt do not deserve to sit on committees alongside serious lawmakers." His legislation would remove Watson Coleman from the House Appropriations Committee, remove Menendez from the House Energy & Commerce Committee and remove McIver from the House committees on Small Business and Homeland Security. Carter's office is reaching out to other House Republicans to gauge support for the resolution. Fox News Digital reached out to the three Democrats for comment but did not immediately hear back. DHS said in a statement after the incident Friday, "These members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk." "Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility," DHS said. The Democrats, meanwhile, have pushed back on the Republican categorization of the event. "The idea we 'stormed' a heavily guarded federal detention center is absurd – just more lies from the most dishonest administration in history," Watson Coleman wrote on X. ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP'S 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL' COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION McIver wrote on the social platform Friday, "This is laid out clearly on ICE's own website. What happened today, from the manhandling of me and my colleagues to the arrest of [Newark Mayor Ras Baraka], should never have occurred." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also defended the trio. "The concerns of elected officials about this unsanctioned facility will not be silenced by the Trump administration's attempt to intimidate the public. We will never bend the knee,' Jeffries said. "The masked agents who physically accosted two Congresswomen must be identified immediately and any trumped-up charges against Mayor Baraka dropped." Print Close URL
Fox News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
DHS says ‘arrests are still on the table' after New Jersey House Dems caught on camera ‘storming' ICE facility
A trio of House Democrats from New Jersey whose visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility went off the rails Friday and devolved into a scuffle with federal agents could face arrest, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The lawmakers, Rep. LaMonica McIver, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Rep. Robert Menendez, allegedly stormed the Delaney Hall Detention Center, along with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested and charged with trespassing. Authorities claim an ICE agent was assaulted in the confrontation, which was caught on camera. "If it was a typical U.S. citizen and they tried to storm into a detention facility that's housing dangerous criminals or any person at all, they would be arrested," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told told "Fox News Live" host Kevin Corke Saturday. "Just because you are a member of Congress ,or just because you're a public official, does not mean you are above the law." "If you assault a law enforcement officer, we will also make sure you answer to justice," she continued. "So I think that arrests are still on the table for this. This is an ongoing investigation." DHS reportedly has body camera footage of Congress members assaulting ICE officers, "including body-slamming a female ICE officer," Axios reported. A group of protesters, including the lawmakers, stormed the facility as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate, according to a news release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Following the incident, McIver wrote in an X post that ICE "shoved" her and "manhandled" Watson Coleman. During a press conference, McIver escalated her claims, saying she was "assaulted by multiple ICE officers while regional directors of ICE watched it happen." DHS footage posted to X on Saturday appears to show McIver barreling unprovoked through law enforcement near the gate. "WATCH: US Congresswoman, LaMonica McIver (wearing a red blazer), storms the gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center ASSAULTING an ICE agent," DHS captioned the video. DHS officials have not yet confirmed any pending charges against those accused of storming the facility. Watson Coleman, who also accused an ICE agent of "shov[ing]" her, wrote in an X post that she, McIver, and Menendez visited the facility on Friday "to exercise our oversight authority as Members of Congress." DHS officials confirmed those being held at the contested facility include "murderers, terrorists, child rapists and MS-13 gang members." "Contrary to a press statement put out by DHS we did not 'storm' the detention center," Coleman wrote. "The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground[s] that they didn't even correctly count the number of Representatives present." Baraka was handcuffed, detained for five hours, and formally charged with trespassing at the facility. "They did this on a charge of trespass, a municipal charge which would normally be handled by way of a ticket," Baraka's attorneys wrote in a statement provided to Fox News. "His subsequent release by the Court demonstrates that there was no reason to believe that this well-known and widely respected public official was either a flight risk or a danger to the community that he served." Baraka's attorneys maintained that the mayor was exercising his first amendment rights and "acted throughout with calm, restraint, and dignity, in a law-abiding manner." They also accused U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba of "repeatedly" making "inaccurate, inflammatory, and unfair" public statements. In an X post Friday, she wrote, "The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW." Baraka's attorneys seemingly accused Habba of "falsely ma[king] public statements accusing the Mayor of violating the 'rule of law'" and "improperly claim[ing] that he is guilty of the trespass charge filed against him." DHS referred inquiries from Fox News Digital to the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, who did not immediately respond.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Newark Mayor says ICE arrest was 'targeted'
May 10 (UPI) -- Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said he was "targeted" when he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at a migrant detention facility in that city. "Nothing happened for a long, long time, you know, for at least over an hour. And then, you know, after that, they finally told us to leave, and I told him I was leaving, they came outside the gate and arrested me," Baraka said during a TV interview with MSNBC. "So it looked like it was targeted." Baraka was arrested at Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, after attending the facility with New Jersey Reps. Robert Menendez Jr. and Bonnie Watson Coleman. The Department of Homeland Security later accused the two members of Congress of illegally breaking into the detention facility as part of a "bizarre political stunt." Watson Coleman said the officials had " lawful oversight authority to be there." Baraka was later released from a DHS field office following his arrest. The 55-year-old native of Newark is running to replace Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., who is term-limited. Baraka has made several TV appearances following the arrest. "The reality is this: I didn't do anything wrong," Baraka told the public following his release. "[Baraka] was exercising my right and duty as an elected official," the mayor told CNN. Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba pushed back, saying federal officials were in the right. "The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon," Habba said on X. "He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. No one is above the law."
BBC News
21-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Ex-US senator's wife convicted in gold bars bribery scheme
A New York jury has found the wife of a former New Jersey senator guilty for her role in a years-long bribery scheme that included stacks of cash, gold bars and a Menendez, 58, was found guilty on all 15 counts, including bribery and obstruction of justice, for aiding her husband, ex-Sen Robert Menendez, who received lavish gifts in exchange for political favours. She was indicted with her husband in September 2023 but had her trial delayed for breast cancer treatments. A sentencing date for Menendez has been set for 12 June. Her husband was convicted in July 2024 and sentenced to 11 years in prison. In a statement, the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York said the couple were "partners in crime" who participated in "corrupt official acts"."Today's verdict sends the clear message that the power of government officials may not be put up for sale," the statement said. During the trial, prosecutors argued that Menendez was an indispensable part of her husband's bribery scheme, telling the jury it was she who often accepted the cash and other gifts on behalf of the former senator. Her husband, at the time, was the top-ranking Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than five years, a position that gave him significant influence over US foreign policy."She was keeping him in the loop every step of the way," Paul M Monteleoni, a prosecutor, said in a closing argument, the New York Times lawyers said the government failed to prove a link between the gold and stacks of cash found in the couple's home to any "official act" taken by her lawyer Barry Coburn said he was "devastated by the verdict", standing outside the New York courthouse on Monday afternoon. "We fought hard and it hurts," Mr Coburn said. "This is a very rough day for us."Menendez and her husband were convicted of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to secretly aid the Egyptian government using the former senator's perch in Washington, prosecutors had government backed up its claims with evidence from a 2022 FBI search at the couple's New Jersey home that included over $100,000 (£80,000) worth of gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in envelopes or hidden in also showed digital evidence that included text messages between the couple and their associates, and a Google search by the former senator that said: "How much is one kilo of gold worth?"Fred Daibes, a New Jersey property developer, and Wael Hana, the Egyptian-born operator of a halal certification company, were also charged and convicted for their broker Jose Uribe pleaded guilty in March 2024 to charges related to the corrupt scheme.
