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While Newark Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka has blamed the Trump administration for a breakout Thursday night at a local ICE detention center, New Jersey GOP leader Kenny Gonzalez criticized Baraka and the Democratic Party, saying it has been sowing “chaos” across the country that emboldens criminal illegals and violent rioters.
“It all started a few months ago here in New Jersey, when Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested for attempting to trespass into the facility and Congresswoman LaMonica McIver assaulting an ICE agent,” Gonzalez told Fox News Digital. “This type of behavior from Democrat left-wing politicians tells the general public that it’s OK to do these kinds of things.”
Four migrants escaped from the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark Thursday evening after an apparent disturbance inside the building, a senior Homeland Security official confirmed to Fox News.
Immigration attorney Mustafa Cetin told NJ.com around 50 detainees at the facility pushed down a dormitory wall after becoming agitated when meals were delayed.
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While Newark Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka has blamed the Trump administration for a breakout Thursday night at a local ICE detention center, New Jersey GOP leader Kenny Gonzalez criticized Baraka and the Democratic Party, saying they have been sowing “chaos” across the country that emboldens criminal illegals and violent rioters. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images and Stephanie Keith for Fox News Digital)
“It’s about the food, and some of the detainees were getting aggressive, and it turned violent,” Cetin said.
He added that his client reported the wall was “not very strong” and described detainees hanging bedsheets in what may have been an escape attempt. The client also said he smelled gas during the incident.
To add to the chaos, at approximately 9 p.m., a group of protesters blocked an SUV from exiting an ancillary gate at Delaney Hall, forcing it to back into the facility.
PIX11 News reported that the escapees were seen running near Turnpike 78 and Delancey Street.
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A Special Response Team with Immigration And Customs Enforcement arrives at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility during a protest over federal immigration enforcement raids Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)
The Department of Homeland Security identified the four escaped migrants on Friday as “public safety threats.” The escaped detainees have been identified as Honduran nationals Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes and Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez and Colombian nationals Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada and Andres Pineda-Mogollon.
Bautista-Reyes was previously arrested for aggravated assault and terroristic threats.
The incident comes just two days after McIver was indicted on three federal charges from a previous visit to Delaney Hall May 9.
McIver was with Baraka and others during what was described as an oversight visit. Baraka was initially charged with trespassing, but the charge was later dropped.
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Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, speaks after exiting a courthouse May 15, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
In response to the breakout, Baraka said his office was “concerned about reports of what has transpired at Delaney Hall this evening, ranging from withholding food and poor treatment, to uprising and escaped detainees.”
Baraka criticized the federal government, saying, “This entire situation lacks sufficient oversight of every basic detail, including local zoning laws and fundamental constitutional rights.
“This is why city officials and our congressional delegation need to be allowed entry to observe and monitor and why private prisons pose a very real problem to our state and its Constitution,” he added. “We demand immediate answers and clear communication with the GEO Group and the Department of Homeland Security. We must put an end to this chaos and not allow this operation to continue unchecked.”
Gonzalez, however, said Baraka and Democratic leaders across the country should bear the blame for the breakout.
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Detainees at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center protested in Newark, N.J., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (WNYW)
“The far left was inspired after what they saw a few days ago in LA, and they wanted to replicate the same thing here in New Jersey, and they followed the politician’s lead,” he said. “So, this just falls into their plan to sow up chaos to distract from what the Democrat Party has been doing nationally and what they’ve done here in Jersey over the last few years.”
Gonzalez said Baraka should bear particular blame for the situation, adding, “It’s very dangerous what the mayor’s doing.”
“That statement is just so dangerous,” Gonzalez said. “To watch the videos of what went on yesterday that clearly show that unhinged protesters were interfering with the ICE agents that were on scene, showing that they were stopping transport vehicles from getting in and out of the facility. … The fact that Ras Baraka’s response is to blame it on the federal government and the state is very, very, very dangerous and shows a lack of accountability.”
With more protests planned for the weekend, Gonzalez worries Newark may still not be in the clear.
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Protesters attempt to block a vehicle from leaving the Delaney Hall Detention Facility during protests over federal immigration enforcement raids Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)
“We just pray that it doesn’t get to the point where President Trump has to do what he did in LA by mobilizing the National Guard. We hope that we can get things under control,” Gonzalez said. “Delaney Hall is definitely going to be a target of all those protests tomorrow. And we definitely don’t want to see that.”
Gonzalez criticized Baraka and other Democratic leaders for having an ideology by which “they see the inmates as victims, and they see themselves as heroes for all of this grandstanding and obstructing that they’ve been doing.
“The good news is they are the minority, and the majority of New Jerseyans are not very happy with what’s going on,” he noted. “It’s time for Gov. [Phil] Murphy to allow law enforcement to do its job and stop what’s going on over there, because we know the mayor’s not going to do it.”
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Protesters gather outside the Delaney Hall Detention Facility during protests over federal immigration enforcement raids on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)
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Meanwhile, Abigail Jackson, White House spokeswoman, told Fox News Digital that “if Democrats had their way, criminal illegal aliens would always be roaming the streets of every American community.”
“The Trump Administration is committed to doing everything possible to Make America Safe Again, and DHS has brought in additional law enforcement partners to locate the escapees,” she said.
Baraka’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by publication time.
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report.
