Newark Mayor warns of returning to ‘dangerous time’ after ICE raids
NEWARK, New Jersey (PIX11) – Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and other city leaders gathered on Friday to denounce an ICE raid at a seafood store the day before.
ICE officers stormed the store without a warrant and without announcing themselves before entering, New Jersey elected officials said.
“How do you determine who’s undocumented and who’s a criminal by looking at them? We’re going back to a time that was very dangerous in this country,” Baraka said.
Congresswoman LaMonica McIver said her office reached out to ICE to ask how the raid was able to take place without a warrant, but she has not yet heard back.
Organizes with the state’s immigrant justice groups say they’ve gone into overdrive to educate Newark residents about their rights and to help restore a sense of safety. They spoke with some of the seafood store workers who witnessed the raid.
“They were heavily armed, there was no prior announcement, they were blocking off entrances and exits, they were scrambling up delivery ramps, they were banging down bathroom doors to make sure no one was hiding inside,” said Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.
Store owner Luis Janota told PIX11 News 10 or 12 ICE agents entered the retail area after receiving complaints and were looking for documentation. They did not ask for anyone specific, he said.
According to Janota, three people were taken into custody, some of whom received a court date to appear before a judge. The store owner told PIX11 that a U.S. military veteran was among the people detained.
The raid came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office stating that federal immigration authorities can arrest people at sensitive locations.
An ICE spokesperson released the following statement:
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 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 on Jan. 23 in Newark, New Jersey. This is an active investigation and per ICE policy, we cannot discuss ongoing investigations.”
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.