A federal judge tore into New Jersey prosecutors over the high-profile arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka outside an immigration detention center earlier this month only to dismiss the case against him days later.
Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, Trump’s personal attorney, appeared on Fox News on May 9 shortly after federal agents arrested Baraka during a protest outside the facility, which has been the site of ongoing demonstrations demanding transparency about the conditions inside.
Baraka was charged with trespassing, but Habba announced on May 19 that she was dropping the case “for the sake of moving forward.”
Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa called the ordeal an “embarrassing retraction.”
Baraka’s “hasty arrest” followed by Habba’s dismissal of the charges two weeks later “suggests a worrying misstep by your office,” Espinosa said during a hearing on Wednesday.
“An arrest, particularly of a public figure, is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action, carrying significant reputational and personal consequences, and it should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate evaluation of credible evidence,” Espinosa added.
Habba was not present for the hearing. The judge — directing his comments to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Demanovich — said he had first learned of the intent to dismiss the case through press reports, not from prosecutors themselves.
“Your office must operate with a higher standard than that,” Espinosa said.
“Federal prosecutors serve a single paramount client: justice itself,” the judge added. “Your role is not to secure convictions at all costs, nor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas.”
Baraka, a candidate for governor of New Jersey, has argued the charges were politically motivated. He was initially allowed into the fenced area in front of the detention center before officers told him to leave and threatened him with arrest.
A heated argument appeared to break out after agents blocked his entry and continued even after Baraka returned to the other side of the gates. Chaotic video from the scene and officers’ bodycam footage shows officers shoving and holding back protesters at a gate to the facility. Agents appeared to swarm around Baraka and block protesters from the fence as they tried to stop his arrest.
Habba simultaneously announced criminal charges against a member of Congress in a social media statement dismissing the case against Baraka.
A criminal complaint against Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was unsealed the next day charging the congresswoman with two counts of “Assaulting, Resisting, and Impeding Certain Officers or Employees” — one against a Homeland Security Investigations agent and another against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer.
A decision to charge McIver is “spectacularly inappropriate,” according to a statement from Paul J. Fishman, a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey serving as McIver’s counsel.
“As a member of Congress, she has the right and responsibility to see how ICE is treating detainees. Rather than facilitating that inspection, ICE agents chose to escalate what should have been a peaceful situation into chaos,” he added. “This prosecution is an attempt to shift the blame for ICE’s behavior to Congresswoman Mclver. In the courtroom, facts — not headlines — will matter.”
McIver’s next court appearance is June 11. She faces up to eight years in prison for each assault charge, if convicted.
