The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, was arrested Friday at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility, as three members of Congress stormed the facility’s gate, demanding a “oversight visit.”

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was arrested on the spot for trespassing before being released hours later. “They treated me pretty well, so a lot of respect for those guys in there, but at the end of the day, we didn’t do anything wrong,” added the employee. “This should not have happened today, but it did and it’s just an example of you know, the work that we have to do.”

Earlier, a mob, including numerous lawmakers, gathered outside the HSI Newark Field Office where Baraka was being held on Friday evening. The throng chanted, yelled, and hammered on the gate, demanding Baraka’s release.

During his brief arrest, other lawmakers joined the increasing call for Baraka’s release. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., called Baraka’s arrest “disturbing, unnecessary, and indicative of tactics that are undermining the safety and security of our communities, not adding to it.” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said he was “outraged by the unjust arrest.” He mentioned that he signed legislation four years ago that prohibited private immigration detention centers in the state. Last week, the state defended the statute in front of a federal appeals court. Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson described Baraka as a buddy who motivated him to strive for change in his city.

In a subsequent press conference, Coleman stated that ICE was “out of control.” McIver stated that the three MPs had waited more than two hours to get access to the facility to perform an oversight visit. She claimed that all three of them were also assaulted by ICE agents. “There are people who are supposed to be officers, who are supposed to protect us, and they have done none of that,” Mclver told the newsroom. “If they can treat three members of Congress like that, just imagine how they can treat people on the street each and everyday, both undocumented and people who are citizens here in this country.”

Bob Menendez, D-N.J., claimed that ICE officials at the prison engaged in a “act of intimidation” on Friday. “We understand what ICE has been doing in our communities. We know the president lied, and this administration lies on a daily basis when it claims to be going after criminals. “It isn’t true,” Menendez remarked through tears. “They don’t feel the weight of the law. They have no qualms about doing what they should be doing, as evidenced by the fact that they not only arrested the mayor of Newark today, but also placed their hands on two members of Congress. Activists have sought entrance into the facility in recent days, claiming that the GEO Group, the building’s new owner, is unlawfully impeding inspection.

“We are not asking for anything incorrect. “We ask them to follow our laws,” Baraka stated. “To obey the policies and rules here in the city and the state of New Jersey, not to run roughshod over the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, the Fourth, the Fifth, the Fourteenth Amendment, and everybody on this soil who deserves due process.”