Immigration enforcement action at Newark business sparks questions

New Jersey public officials are raising questions after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided a Newark business on Thursday just days into President Donald Trump's second administration.

At least three citizens and non-citizens were detained at the site in the city’s Ironbound district, according to local officials and advocates. ICE did not enter the business with a judicial warrant, and one of those detained was also a veteran, said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, both Democrats.

Jeff Carter, an ICE spokesperson, issued a statement from the agency on Friday: "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 yesterday in Newark, New Jersey.”

The agency made no further comment.

The raid occurred at a seafood distributor around 11:30 a.m., according to Rafael Chavez, an organizer with the local advocacy group New Labor who was on the ground shortly after the raid. The action comes days after Trump issued a series of executive orders and directives aimed at stepping up immigration enforcement.

It was unclear if the ICE action was related to the White House's new guidance on enforcement. ICE routinely conducts enforcement actions throughout the region each year. While Trump has promised “mass deportation,” the enforcement operations this week have so far been “modest,” the Washington Post reported.

In a post on X, ICE said that 538 people had been detained as of Thursday. After Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, the Post reported that the agency had detained 675 people.

In the fiscal year 2024, concluding at the end of September, 1,357 people were deported from Newark, according to ICE agency data.

“We're going to fight for all of our residents in this city — no matter what that looks like for us,” Baraka told a Friday morning press conference. Earlier, the mayor said in a statement that “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized.”

Amy Torres, executive director of nonprofit New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, said she arrived at the Newark business shortly after ICE had left the scene on Thursday. She said the business employs 80 to 90 people, and fewer than 15 workers were on the scene when she got there.

Torres said she was told the ICE officers entered without announcement and it remains unclear why they questioned and arrested those who were taken into custody.

“ They were blocking off entrances and exits,” Torres said. “They were scrambling up delivery ramps. They were banging down bathroom doors to make sure no one was hiding inside.”

Torres said there were “collateral arrests" of people who were swept up in the enforcement action even though they did not appear to be the original targets. Such arrests were routine during Trump’s first term and less so during Biden’s presidency, she said.

Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan has promised to first target criminals in deportation operations.

“None of these people were rapists or murderers or criminals,” Baraka said in the Friday morning press conference.

“Actions like this one sow fear in all of our communities," New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, said in a joint statement. "And our broken immigration system requires solutions, not fear tactics.”

This story has been updated with additional information.