Newark Mayor Sues Alina Habba For Malicious Prosecution | EUROtoday
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is suing Alina Habba, the interim U.S. lawyer for the District of New Jersey, for false arrest, malicious prosecution and defamation after he was arrested and detained for trespassing at an immigration detention middle on May 9.
The lawsuit alleges that Habba, previously the private lawyer for President Donald Trump, directed Homeland Security agent Ricky Patel, who can be a named defendant, to falsely arrest Baraka for trespassing after he entered after which left a personal detention facility in Newark used to deal with immigrants.
The arrest was executed as a part of a political scheme to wreck Democratic Party politicians within the state, the swimsuit alleges. It additionally fees Habba with defaming Baraka by issuing false statements in regards to the occasions that led to his arrest.
Habba’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Via Getty Images
Baraka, who’s presently operating for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in New Jersey, was arrested by Homeland Security officers on May 9 at a GEO Group detention facility in Newark when three New Jersey members of Congress sought to examine the power.
For months prior, Baraka had publicly raised considerations that the power had not undergone correct inspections or acquired the required certifications for operation by town. The three Democratic lawmakers — Reps. Rob Menendez, Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver — who’re legally required to be granted entry to any immigration detention facility, invited Baraka to hitch them.
When Baraka arrived, he was invited onto the power grounds by an agent of the power operator after a crowd of protesters chanted for him to be given entry. This was meant to “calm the crowd,” the lawsuit states. Soon afterwards, Patel requested Baraka to go away, which he did.
The Democratic lawmakers, nonetheless inside the power, overheard Patel obtain and provides orders to arrest Baraka for trespassing, in accordance with Baraka’s lawsuit. Homeland Security officers then left the power grounds to arrest the mayor.
A scrum ensued, by which Homeland Security officers pushed Baraka’s safety element apart to arrest him and the members of Congress sought to place themselves between the officers and Baraka. Habba’s workplace would later cost McIver with assault on an officer, regardless of no proof from the copious video taken in the course of the occasion that such an assault occurred.
Baraka was then taken into custody, fingerprinted, photographed, interrogated and held for hours earlier than seeing a choose. Just 10 days later, Habba dropped the costs, and a federal choose admonished her workplace for arresting the mayor and bringing fees within the first place.
The lawsuit argues that the affidavit charging Baraka with trespass was false, because the mayor had been invited onto the power grounds and left the premises after Patel requested him to take action.
“The false affidavit was made with malice, particularly seeking to assure that the evening news included videos of the Black Mayor of Newark, New Jersey being led away in handcuffs by federal officials,” the criticism states.

Andrew Harnik through Getty Images
Baraka’s lawsuit additional argues that Habba’s political statements when Trump appointed her to her present place are proof that his arrest was geared towards a political agenda separate from the prosecutorial work of a U.S. lawyer. This contains Habba’s declare that her work as the highest federal prosecutor in New Jersey aimed to “turn New Jersey red.”
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Habba defamed Baraka by mendacity in regards to the occasions that preceded his arrest on the social media website X and in an look on Fox News. She claimed on X that Baraka “has willingly chosen to disregard the law” by ignoring “multiple warnings” to go away the power grounds. Baraka “refused to leave,” Habba mentioned on Fox News.
These statements had been repeated or amplified by Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who claimed on CNN that Baraka “broke into a detention facility” and was arrested for “storming an ICE facility.”
The Department of Homeland Security doubled down on this model of occasions in a press release to HuffPost.
“Mayor Baraka is trying to rewrite history with this frivolous lawsuit,” McLaughlin mentioned in a press release. “It’s too late: The American people saw with their own eyes his actions that put the safety of our law enforcement agents and the staff at Delaney Hall at risk — all for the sake of the dangerous criminals housed there.”
The lawsuit, filed within the federal district courtroom for New Jersey, seeks unspecified financial damages and lawyer charges.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ras-baraka-alina-habba_n_683f22b6e4b049ed4229b711