UPDATE: Newark Mayor Released After Arrest at ICE Facility

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a federal immigration detention center where he has been protesting its opening this week and held in custody for several hours.

Baraka was released shortly after 8 p.m. and, after stepping out of an SUV with flashing emergency lights, told waiting supporters: “The reality is this: I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Baraka said he could not speak about his case, citing a promise he made to lawyers and the judge. But he voiced full-throated support for everyone living in his community, illegal immigrants included.

“All of us here, every last one of us, I don’t care what background you come from, what nationality, what language you speak,” Baraka said, “at some point we have to stop these people from causing division between us.”

Baraka, a Democrat who is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has embraced the fight with the Trump administration over illegal immigration.

He has aggressively pushed back against the construction and opening of the 1,000-bed detention center, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.

Linda Baraka, the mayor’s wife, accused the federal government of targeting her husband.

“They didn’t arrest anyone else. They didn’t ask anyone else to leave. They wanted to make an example out of the mayor,” she said, adding that she had not been allowed to see him.

A crowd gathered to protest outside the building where Baraka was being held, with many chanting, “Let the mayor go!”

Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka committed trespass and ignored warnings from Homeland Security personnel to leave Delaney Hall, a detention facility run by private prison operator Geo Group.

Habba said Baraka had “chosen to disregard the law” and added that he was taken into custody.

Video of the incident showed that Baraka was arrested after returning to the public side of the gate to the facility.

Watch: