U.S. immigration agents rounded up undocumented migrants as well as American citizens in a raid of a Newark, New Jersey, worksite on Thursday that the city’s mayor said involved detaining a military veteran and violations of the people’s rights.
The raid in New Jersey’s most populous city, hailed in the past by Mayor Ras Baraka for its “sanctuary” policies protecting migrants, follows President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.
Trump issued a raft of executive orders after taking office on Monday that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration. He has taken steps to punish officials who resist enforcement of his sweeping crackdown.
In a raid of a business establishment in Newark, outside New York City, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents failed to produce a warrant as they detained “undocumented residents as well as citizens,” Baraka said in a statement.
“One of the detainees is a U.S. military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned,” Baraka said.
In a statement, an ICE spokesperson said that agents “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.”
The spokesperson said that ICE was investigating the incident.
Baraka said the raid had violated the citizens’ rights under the U.S. Constitution.
“Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” he said.
Neither Baraka nor ICE identified the business raided by name.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on X that the Trump administration arrested 538 people Thursday, describing all of them as “illegal immigrant criminals.” She said they included members of a Venezuelan prison gang and people convicted of sex crimes.
Leavitt did not provide more details.
A range of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans. Other studies find that immigrants in the U.S. illegally also do not commit crimes at a higher rate.
Sanctuary cities
Baraka, the Newark mayor, is one of the first local officials in the U.S. to issue a statement on a specific raid following the start of Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In 2017, he signed an executive order cementing Newark’s sanctuary status and was a vocal opponent of Trump’s immigration policies during the president’s first term.
Of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally or with temporary status in 2022, about 44% lived in states with “sanctuary” laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
That figure does not include those in sanctuary cities and counties in places without a statewide law, such as New Mexico.
U.S. media outlets reported that federal law enforcement and ICE agents had arrested nearly 500 undocumented migrants wanted for outstanding crimes in sanctuary cities, including some from New York and New Jersey. The reports cited ICE officials who said the arrests took place Tuesday and Wednesday.
