In New Jersey, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has filed a federal lawsuit claiming false arrest, malicious prosecution and defamation over his arrest last month by masked federal agents outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement jail.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are calling on Republican Chair Jim Jordan to condemn the actions of Homeland Security agents last week when they handcuffed and detained a staffer for New York Democratic Congressmember Jerry Nadler. The incident began when Federal Protective Service agents knocked on the door of Nadler’s Manhattan offices demanding to be let inside, saying they were searching for “protesters.” One agent accused Nadler’s aides of “harboring rioters.” Staffers had been observing protests outside an immigration court in the same building and had invited two protesters inside their office. Congressmember Nadler later told CNN the agents handcuffed and detained his staffer even though they lacked a warrant.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler: “The tactics were totally unacceptable, and they needed a warrant. And my office is a congressional office. It’s a completely separate branch of government, a coequal branch of government with the executive, for which they work. And they had no right to come in. They had no right to disregard the coequal branch of government, which is to say the Congress.”