A federal officer who arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka outside an immigration detention center in May claimed he was acting on direct orders from the Justice Department’s second-in-command, Todd Blanche, according to body camera footage described in a recent court filing.
The filing, submitted by Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), sheds new light on the chaotic events of May 9, when Baraka and several Democratic lawmakers clashed with immigration officials during an oversight visit. Baraka was arrested for trespassing—charges later dropped—while McIver herself was accused of assaulting federal agents. She is now pushing to have her case dismissed.
According to McIver’s attorneys, a Department of Homeland Security special agent was on the phone as tensions unfolded. Citing the unreleased bodycam footage, the attorneys wrote that the agent, after ending the call, told colleagues: “We are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general of the United States. Anyone that gets in our way, I need you guys to give me a perimeter so I can cuff him.”…