The mayor of Newark condemns an immigration raid without a mandate which “terrorized” people | New Jersey

The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, said that an immigration operation in the city had been carried out without a mandate and had led to the arrest of undocumented residents as well as citizens.

The mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, said that immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had searched a local establishment. “Newark will not remain their arms crossed while people are illegally terrorized,” he wrote in a statement.

The mayor’s announcement comes when the major cities of the United States are preparing for ice raids, as promised the Tsar of the borders of Donald Trump, Tom Homan, who said that the federal government would respect the promise of Trump of “massive deportations”. Homan reported that so -called sanctuaries – of the localities that have refused to give immigrants to the federal authorities – would be the first targets of the raids.

Ice announced that it has carried out a total of 538 arrests in an update on Thursday. The agency did not immediately answer the Guardian’s question concerning the moment and the place in the United States when the arrests took place.

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The figures are not necessarily exceptional: the agency has carried out more than 450 arrests per day in 2023, when Joe Biden was president, for example. But the actions of the agency drew special attention in the context of the repression of immigration led by the Trump administration. Since his entry into office on Monday, the president has launched a series of orders and changes in immigration policy, including directives according to which immigration agents will be authorized to carry out checks in sensitive places such as Schools and churches.

Ice refused to provide details on the date and place of his raid in New Jersey. Baraka said that among detained people was an American army veteran, “who suffered the unworthiness of seeing the legitimacy of his military documents questioned” by officers.

“This blatant act constitutes a blatant violation of the fourth amendment of the American Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of citizens to the security of their person, their home, their papers and their effects, against the searches and abusive seizures'” , said the mayor.

Ice said that the agency “could meet American citizens during field work and could request an identity document to establish the identity of an individual, as was the case during a targeted repression operation On a site today in Newark ”.

The raids and their effects on people with or without a citizenship have aroused the indignation and condemnation of several legislators from New Jersey, including the American representative Bonnie Watson Coleman. “It’s a shame,” she wrote in a statement. “This is what we expect from two -legged dictators in the banana republics. »»

Lamonica McIiver, another representative, wrote: “Already, Trump’s attacks on immigrant communities strike with us and we will not back down. »»

The New Jersey Alliance for Justice for Immigrants has urged residents to attend workshops “know your rights” which it organizes, to help residents understand their legal rights when they meet agents responsible for application immigration.

Defenders and local leaders in the United States are also preparing for raids. In Chicago – where more than 50,000 people, mainly from Venezuela, have arrived in the past two years – Mayor Brandon Johnson said that he was working with community groups to inform residents about their rights.