Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka holds press conference at Delaney Hall

[1:47] past two weeks, Delaney Hall has become the focus of significant public attention, filing [1:53] reports of hunger strikes and labor strikes by detainees who raise concerns about their [1:58] living conditions, medical care and access to family visitation. These allegations spark [2:04] daily demonstrations by immigrant rights activists, faith leaders, community organizations, elected [2:09] officials, federal delegation, and so on. Obviously, as these demonstrations continue, they began [2:18] to spiral, you know, and I stated earlier why I thought they began to spiral into violence. [2:25] As a result, the city of Newark called for a limited curfew that, by God's grace, we're [2:33] trying to raise tonight or tomorrow night and we'll be done with that. We thought it was [2:40] necessary to have a curfew because there was a fire in the middle of the road. There's [2:44] contention about who started the fire. Obviously, the city of Newark were not, at this moment, [2:49] the concern is about the fire was actually burning, that there was violent confrontations [2:55] that were taking place, people being pushed into moving vehicles, things that we saw that [3:01] we thought were troubling, and so we decided to establish a curfew. What needs to be noted [3:08] is that for the past year, the city of Newark has been in active litigation with the GEO group [3:14] regarding Delaney Hall. And from the beginning, we have advocated for the immediate closure of [3:19] this building, Delaney Hall, due to the GEO group's failure to comply with code ordinances, [3:25] which we believe poses serious health and safety risks. So, when DHS claims that they are working [3:33] with the city, and I dare to say the state to protect Delaney Hall and support its operations, [3:38] it is completely inaccurate. And also deeply offensive to us and to the residents of our city [3:45] with our concerns regarding Delaney Hall have only deepened, especially regarding the treatment [3:51] of detainees, which remain deeply troubling and inhumane. The reports of detainees suffering [3:56] miscarriages, receiving inadequate medical care, psychological abuse is troubling, which forces [4:04] us now to expand, and our business administrator will talk about that, our lawsuit against Delaney [4:10] Hall, further than just code enforcement violations. I already spoke that the city has already implemented [4:19] a curfew, which by God's grace, we're going to try to lift this evening or tomorrow evening. [4:26] The city is now managing traffic with the state police help and help from other agencies around [4:32] the state. The key intersections, Wilson and Doremus, Roanoke and Doremus, Avenue P and Doremus. [4:39] We believe that maintaining order and protecting civil rights are not mutually exclusive. They [4:44] must go hand in hand. We obviously thought that the interaction between ICE agents, Homeland Security [4:53] and the interaction between the state police and residents were troubling to us. We had a meeting [5:02] with the governor's office, who has been on board, and the state attorney general about Newark beginning [5:08] to have a greater span of control, a more incident command, a louder voice in how things are executed [5:16] here on the ground, in and around this area. And that has been granted to us. We have been [5:23] allowed, you know, working still in close conjunction with the state to begin to manage what's going [5:28] on in this area. I might say that we probably should have done that earlier, jumped in and had [5:34] a louder voice in what was happening in and around us as it began to grow more and more untenable [5:39] as the days went on. What we are most concerned about is that the public conversation has shifted [5:45] away from what matters most, the urgent issues, not just what's happening outside of Delaney Hall, [5:51] but what's happening inside of Delaney Hall. The detainees, their families, the real harm and hardship [5:56] that they're experiencing. And we will take steps to expand and strengthen our case against [6:01] the GEO group. We have to understand that this case is against GEO. GEO is a private company [6:07] who is hiding under the auspies of a contract that they have with the federal government. [6:12] The federal government has no employees that work here. This is not a federal facility, these [6:18] are not federal grounds, it's a private facility, private workers, and they are subject to state and [6:25] municipal laws. They cannot be shielded by a contract that they have with Homeland Security, [6:32] which is what they're trying to do over and over again with our case. And I'm certainly going to try [6:37] to do that as we move forward. I would like to ask Judge Simper, who is the presiding judge over this, [6:43] that this is just not a dispute, a bureaucratic dispute over garbage and debris, a code enforcement [6:49] dispute. This is a dispute about human lives, about people and the way they're being treated. [6:53] Whether they're detainees or not, we have a constitution in this country. We have basic human rights [6:59] that we follow. People have to be treated humanely in these institutions. We believe that this is not the case. [7:06] In fact, we believe that the way GEO Group opened up Delaney Hall was in contravention to city [7:12] municipal laws and state laws from the very beginning. It's OnStar. It has no real grounds to be open. [7:20] It should be closed on the grounds that we stated in the first place. And we're going to argue even further [7:25] that this should be closed because of health and human safety. As we go forward, the city of Newark [7:32] Newark will now maintain most of the protection around this area to make sure people are able to protest without abuse, [7:43] be able to protest and exercise their First Amendment rights without interference in a safe way. [7:50] We, with the help of the state police, put up a barrier to protect people from traffic to allow folks to do this in a way that is not harmful to them [8:00] or harmful to anybody that's going back and forth. We also set up opportunities for counter-protesters so they can protest [8:07] and there's no interaction as well. And soon, soon we will be removing these protective or freedom of speech zones [8:15] that were created and allow people to come back onto Doremus Avenue and out of these zones that were created, [8:23] which in its OnStar that I didn't agree with in the first place. But here we are. I would like the business administrator to talk a little bit more about the legal strategy. [8:33] He can probably do that better than I can. And then I'll be open for any questions that people may have. [8:38] Good morning. As Mary Baraka has indicated, there's already an existing litigation between the city of Newark and the GEO Group. [8:48] We have been in receipt of correspondence from individuals inside of Delaney Hall, detainees and their family members, [8:58] and have detailed some of the conditions, the horrific conditions that are in there. [9:02] There's already talked about one individual who had a miscarriage without appropriate medical treatment. [9:06] The food has been described as having maggots and it's been inadequate. [9:11] There are other, we believe, health and food violations. [9:14] It's the obligation of the city of Newark, not just at this facility but at every facility, [9:19] to ensure that buildings are open with the health, safety and welfare of those inside as the paramount issue. [9:26] We have been denied access for subsequent visits to make sure that that is the case. [9:31] Now that we have this additional information, we are again obligated, just as with any other facility, [9:37] to go in and make sure that our health department has access, the state health department, [9:42] who has also indicated that they want to join in on this, and our code enforcement teams and UCC, [9:48] which is the Uniform Commercial Code, to ensure that the building is safe and is up to the standards of the city and the state. [9:55] Thus far, they have not done so. [9:57] As the mayor has indicated, Church Semper has this case already and we would like him to rule. [10:01] We anticipate, now that we have asked the GEO group for access again, [10:07] I sent an email to GEO group last night, indicated that we want to get access to make sure that the health and safety of the individuals inside is appropriate. [10:16] We have not received a response yet, but we expect to get that today. [10:20] If they don't allow us in, we, along with partners who are out here to protect the individuals inside, [10:27] they will join our lawsuit to seek to have the, along with the state health department, to join, [10:36] to have this facility shut down until it can be inspected and ensured that it is safe for the individuals who are in there. [10:45] So we're awaiting the GEO group's response now and we expect to go to the court for the next day or two to continue the existing lawsuit. [10:52] I'll entertain a few questions. [10:56] Yes, ma'am. [10:57] Hey there, Romney with NBC. [10:59] Thank you. [11:01] Romney with WNBC. [11:02] The border star, Tom Holman, said he was here over the weekend. [11:05] He was. [11:06] He toured it, saw his team, ate the food. [11:09] He is claiming that everything is up to par and fine. [11:12] What is your response to that? [11:14] Well, I'm sure they gave him good food and they gave him good treatment. [11:17] He is the border star. [11:19] I would imagine that he should have probably spoken to some of the detainees and interviewed them [11:25] and talked to them honestly about the conditions that were happening here. [11:29] I was here that morning when Congresswoman Menendez was here. [11:33] I was here with Congresswoman MacGyver, with Congresswoman Adalilia Mejia. [11:37] And when they came out, and Senator Andy Kim, when they came out, their conclusions about what they saw inside of this facility were grim and completely opposite of what Holman said. [11:52] And so I expect there to be differences. [11:56] But because those things were raised, we believe it entitles us to go and see and inspect for ourselves, like if it was a nursing home or any other property that gets similar complaints. [12:09] Mayor Baraka, Christina Fan with WCBS. [12:12] I wanted to ask, it seems like Newark police started handling the curfew last night. [12:16] Yes. [12:17] Were there any arrests? [12:18] And could you explain, again, why you made the decision to have Newark police handle this? [12:23] And how good of a job or bad of a job did you think state police did? [12:27] Well, last night we didn't have no arrests, by God's grace. [12:32] And, you know, we, I think it was, I'm quite sure it was incident free. [12:38] You know, we had our normal teams on the ground, mostly community people, police in the background, talking to individuals, telling them it's a curfew. [12:48] People are upset. [12:49] You know, they are frustrated. [12:51] They've gone through a lot. [12:52] Some of them have come down here prepared for battle. [12:55] We made it clear that we didn't, we wasn't here to battle anybody. [12:59] We was here to make sure that folks were safely able to protest. [13:04] In fact, we allowed people to go down the street to another location outside of the curfew zone and stay there even a little longer. [13:11] And we didn't rush people off the scene. [13:13] And people began to gradually dissipate on their own, without arrest and without incident. [13:18] And at the same time, people were getting out of the county jail. [13:21] So we had that flow of people that were getting out of the county jail, about 60 people were getting out of there. [13:26] And we provided rides for people who were coming out of the county jail, from the county jail to the train station, so they're able to get out of this area safely. [13:35] Listen, I think that the governor was supposed to act. [13:38] I think she acted and she was supposed to. [13:40] She's the leader of the state. [13:43] Holman threatened to bring 31 tactical units into the state of New Jersey to deal with this. [13:48] And we all know what that looked like in Minnesota. [13:51] Two people lost their lives. [13:53] We know what that looked like in Seattle. [13:55] We know what that looked like around the country. [13:57] So she acted. [13:58] I think the state police used their training. [14:02] Unfortunately, their training was not appropriate for what was happening in this area at the time. [14:07] And they kind of resembled what ICE was doing in the first place. [14:13] And I think that helped further escalate the situation. [14:18] We wanted to de-escalate the situation. [14:21] And I think our officers are more trained in de-escalation. [14:26] Not because we were just born that way, but because we just went through a consent decree. [14:30] And our officers have been trained. [14:32] And so we have a little bit more restraint. [14:35] And I think that that's important. [14:37] When people are frustrated, they're angry, that we have to show a kind of prolonged level of restraint to individuals [14:43] to express themselves, even emotionally express themselves. [14:47] We even have a free freedom of speech policy training that we do that allows us officers to understand [14:55] that they're not supposed to arrest people simply because they're saying something that they don't like. [15:00] Mayor, Lauren Dew with News 12 New Jersey. [15:04] Delaney Hall, what's happening here is setting a lot of attention not only in New Jersey, nationally. [15:09] People are watching on social media. [15:11] What's your main message to everyone this afternoon? [15:14] Well, what's happening in Delaney Hall is happening around the country. [15:17] And people should know that there have been people on the ground here in front of Delaney Hall every single day before it even opened. [15:25] I came to a couple of those protests. [15:27] There were people out here for over a year without incident, without being thrown into the street, [15:34] without being slammed to the ground, without tear gas and fires. [15:37] None of that took place, which means people know how to peacefully protest. [15:44] It was happening. [15:45] I think it was escalated the minute ICE showed up on the scene. [15:49] They created this kind of escalation that took place that we have not recovered from until last night. [15:55] That's the reality of the matter. [15:57] I know that because when I was here and was arrested, it was escalated by them then. [16:01] So I know there's a history of escalation. [16:04] And so what we have to understand as elected officials and activists is that we can't have the attention turned to the escalation that's going on outside and away from what's happening in the property. [16:18] Because our real reason for being out here is to make sure Delaney Hall is closed and all the attention is on violence takes us away from detainees who the overwhelming majority of the detainees are not criminals. [16:33] You know, some of them have even been to court and was arrested at their hearing. [16:38] Right? [16:39] So, to me, that's problematic. [16:41] Right? [16:42] And it's contrary to what we express to the world as what the United States is supposed to be. [16:48] Bring us your tired, your huddled masses. [16:50] This is what we're supposed to be. [16:52] People come here for a reason. [16:54] Right? [16:55] And we are supposed to be the bastion of democracy and freedom for around the world. [16:59] Yes? [17:01] Hey, excuse me, Mayor. [17:03] This is Michael Warren. [17:04] She was next. [17:05] Go ahead. [17:06] I'm sorry. [17:07] Then I'll go over here. [17:16] No, it wasn't ultimatum. [17:17] He was actually speaking like it was already happening. [17:19] And it may have. [17:20] I'm not sure if they started or whatever. [17:23] And, you know, that kind of discussion obviously creates, you know, urgency. [17:31] And I think that that is the atmosphere where the governor thought it was necessary to act. [17:38] Because obviously we don't want tactical units all up and down. [17:42] I don't want them in the city and we don't want them in the state. [17:45] Yes, sir. [17:47] Thanks, Mayor. [17:49] Can you clarify? [17:50] Did you say the state government prepared to enter the lawsuit if the health inspectors [17:55] are not allowed access to that? [17:56] That we've had discussions with the state and they have told us that they are interested [18:01] in being a party to our larger lawsuit. [18:04] Yes. [18:05] The federal government is not going to be named in this action. [18:10] Can you explain why not? [18:11] I can't hear you? [18:12] The federal government is not going to be named in this action at this point. [18:15] Can you explain why not? [18:16] Right. [18:17] Because the action is actually against the GEO Group, which is a private facility. [18:21] Okay. [18:23] Our objective is to close the building, right? [18:53] And the people that have the greatest ability to close the building is the GEO Group. [18:58] That's a private organization. [18:59] They have a contract with the government, with HSI, to house detainees. [19:04] This was a halfway house prior to what it is today. [19:08] It was a halfway house for people who were returning home from incarceration. [19:13] They changed the use of this property. [19:16] By virtue of the fact that they changed the use triggers a variance. [19:19] They have to go to the zoning board and have community meetings like any other building [19:23] in the state. [19:26] They bypassed that process. [19:28] They limited inspections, which by virtue of that does not give them the right to be open. [19:33] Right? [19:34] And now the health and human safety issues that we're hearing, the state has the ability [19:39] to go in, the state health director, the city self-director has the ability to go in, [19:43] like they would be going to any other building. [19:45] There was a nursing home in the state of New Jersey that we know about, [19:48] and we have these complaints, where residents die in a nursing home, [19:51] and somebody has died in there in a nursing home. [19:53] There were people who were having miscarriages. [19:55] If people were complaining about food, the health department would be in those buildings [20:00] immediately and working to shut them down. [20:03] The only thing that is preventing that from happening here is a contract that they have [20:07] that they're shielding themselves with, and you know, our judges seem to be comfortable [20:13] with allowing them to do that, and we're going to continue to press forward [20:17] to move that obstruction out of our way so we can do what we're supposed to do in Delaney Hall. [20:22] Here, Isabel Peralta Hill with Telemundo. [20:27] Does any of your decision have anything to do with the visit of Tom Huffman here during the weekend? [20:33] The visit of what? [20:34] Tom Huffman. [20:35] My decision? [20:36] Uh-huh. [20:37] No, no. [20:38] Like the design area for protesters or the curfew? [20:41] No. [20:42] He said that he came here, he talked to local authorities. [20:44] He did. [20:45] And he said that on Fox, and that he got a lot of the things that he asked for. [20:51] Right, but not from us. [20:54] Let me just make that clear. [20:56] But in fact, he asked us to do things that we refuse to do. [21:00] But ultimately, our decisions, us being out in front of Delaney Hall has nothing to do with Tom Huffman. [21:06] He directly, indirectly, he is advocating for this, which we are opposed to. [21:12] But directly, we came out here before Tom Huffman even got this position, right? [21:17] Or sit here. [21:19] We've been out here, as I stated, for over a year. [21:22] Protesters have been out here for over a year. [21:24] So that's clear to me. [21:27] The curfew was put in place because of the violence that took place in this area. [21:35] Because fires that were set, there were tires burning right where you stand, in the middle of the street. [21:42] There were people being pushed into moving traffic that was happening. [21:46] People were being hit with batons. [21:48] Tear gas was flying in the area. [21:50] We decided, also with the consent of the state government, to set up a curfew in this area. [22:00] We decided it would be limited. [22:02] And based on what happens this evening, you know, honestly, I want to pull the curfew tonight, right? [22:07] But, you know, either we'll continue it tonight and end it tomorrow or end it tonight. [22:12] But it will not continue past this week. [22:15] Phil Tate with WABC. [22:19] Just one question. [22:20] You said that you're looking forward to seeing that curfew being lifted, potential zones also being removed. [22:26] What plan is to put into place if we are to see similar scenes like we have over the past week? [22:32] What exactly is that plan? [22:33] Well, we're prayerful that those things don't happen. [22:39] And I'm angry that you've even spoken into existence, brother. [22:42] But it's all good. [22:44] But that's the right question. [22:47] We are going to have our folks out here. [22:50] We're going to have our community teams out here. [22:52] Our street teams out here. [22:55] Most of them are not police officers. [22:58] These people will be out here talking to the crowd, doing what's best for our clergy, [23:03] our community activists to engage with folks in this community. [23:07] Some of them who are part of the protest, who are just as angry as everybody else, in fact. [23:12] And I want to tell people the overwhelming majority. [23:15] I would say 99.9% of the people who come down here to protest did not come down here to attack ICE. [23:23] They did not come down here to fight with police. [23:25] They did not come down here to wrestle with individuals. [23:28] They came down here to protect families and detainees and fight for their constitutional rights and their civil rights. [23:34] How do I know that? History has proven that to be true over the past year. [23:39] That is a fact. [23:41] And so when people say protestors are causing this problem, there are people causing problems. [23:46] But I can't tell you if they're protestors or not. [23:49] I don't know who these people are who come here to do this. [23:53] I don't know how they got here, who planted them here, what their energy is, what they want to do. [23:59] And I don't understand the thinking of Homeland Security, why they think they should push people into traffic, right? [24:05] Why they think they should throw tear gas into crowds. [24:08] I don't understand those tactics or hit people with batons, which is clearly unconstitutional, right? [24:14] You know, if the northern police would be under consent decree again if we behaved that way. [24:19] We have body-worn cameras. [24:21] We have to be subject to suits and scrutiny by the public to behave that way. [24:28] It's unconstitutional in my mind. [24:31] Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Ryder Rebar from Politico. [24:35] It sounds like you agree and disagree with the governor on certain things. [24:39] Can you explain what you agree with her and disagree with the state police and her about? [24:43] I mean, clearly, I agree that she was supposed to take action, 100%. [24:48] She's the governor. [24:49] She's the leader of this state. [24:51] Our agencies are going to follow her, her attorney general, her staff. [24:55] We're going to defer to her because she is the leader of this state. [24:59] And she needed to make strong and aggressive decisions. [25:02] She made a decision to involve the state police, which is probably the tools that she has at her disposal. [25:09] So I don't disagree with any of that up to that point. [25:13] What I disagree with is the tactics that were employed by the state police when they got here for that very situation. [25:21] Look, the state police is a sword. [25:23] If you're going to use them, you have to expect people to get cut. [25:29] And those are the thinking that has to go into this. [25:32] And I just think that we, going forward, have to have larger discussions about tactics on the ground. [25:38] The local authorities, our public safety director has to be involved in every decision going forward in our city. [25:45] The elected officials have to be involved, our health department. [25:48] And, and to their credit, there have been cross conversations with individuals, but not collective ones. [25:54] And we finally had a collective conversation. [25:56] And out of that collective conversation, which is, is what happened, is what's happening here today. [26:01] Why we have a greater span of control and influence. [26:04] Why we are making the decision to reopen to Remus Avenue. [26:07] And making the decision to close these freedom of speech zones at some point. [26:13] Romney again with WNBC. [26:16] It's very clear that you want the facility shut down and that your biggest concern right now is of the detainees' health and wellness inside. [26:22] In an ideal world, if it were able to be shut down right now, what would happen to the detainees inside? [26:30] Right. [26:31] Where would they go? [26:32] And, and we had this discussion with the, with Holman and leadership. [26:36] You know, they, they, they would immediately transfer these people out of this state. [26:41] That's what they would do. [26:42] That is the, the downside of what we're talking about here. [26:46] That, that people that they, they're transferring people now. [26:49] You know, who they believe are troublemakers. [26:52] They're transferring them out of here, which is the behavior of any penal institution in this country. [26:58] They're going to transfer folks who are organizing other people inside. [27:01] They would move these people outside of the state of New Jersey, which would be a hardship to some of the family members. [27:08] But I, I believe that our partners and folks on the ground would work out as much as they could to get people to these places. [27:15] To purchase tickets, to do what's necessary to get people in front of their loved ones. [27:21] And hopefully this sparks something where we begin to close them down all over the country. [27:27] So there's nowhere to send these people besides a court so they can have a hearing and get due process and become citizens of the United States. [27:35] Thank you. [27:38] Thank you. I appreciate it. [27:39] Go ahead. [27:42] Yes. [27:43] Yes. [27:44] The, we, we are completely working with the state police. [27:46] We always have. [27:47] I don't want people to take this as we don't like the state police. [27:51] We work with, in fact, we work with the state police, the ATF, the FBI, even Homeland Security on issues of criminal apprehension, [27:59] all kinds of things that we work with them very, very, very well on. [28:03] And they're very, very, very well trained to do and deal with us in those areas. [28:07] And we expect their assistance and their help. [28:09] We just want to be able to control what is happening in our own city. [28:14] Thank you. Thank you very much.