A federal Justice of the Peace decide on Wednesday blasted US Legal professional Alina Habba for criminally charging Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after which dismissing his fees almost every week later.
The Mayor of Newark was arrested for prison trespass earlier this month after storming the Delaney Corridor ICE detention facility.
US Legal professional Alina Habba on Monday night introduced her workplace dropped a misdemeanor trespass cost in opposition to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
The cost in opposition to Baraka was associated to his riotous exercise on the Delaney Corridor ICE detention middle earlier this month.
“After in depth consideration, now we have agreed to dismiss Mayor Baraka’s misdemeanor cost or trespass,” Alina Habba mentioned in a press release posted to X on Monday night.
“Within the spirit of public curiosity, I’ve invited the mayor to tour Delaney Corridor. The federal government has nothing to cover at this facility, and I’ll personally accompany the mayor so he can see that firsthand,” Habba mentioned.
Habba additionally introduced her workplace charged Democrat Congresswoman LaMonica McIver for assaulting ICE brokers.
Immediately my workplace has charged Congresswoman McIver with violation of Title 18, United States Code, Part 111(a)(1) for assaulting, impeding and interfering with regulation enforcement. pic.twitter.com/TV00uwRtKq
— US Legal professional Habba (@USAttyHabba) Might 19, 2025
Decide Andre Espinosa, who beforehand warned US Legal professional Alina Habba in opposition to making public statements about Ras Baraka, held a digital listening to on the matter on Wednesday afternoon.
Throughout the listening to, Decide Espinosa blasted Alina Habba and mentioned the arrest and swift choice to dismiss fees in opposition to Ras Baraka “suggests a worrisome misstep.”
The decide scolded prosecutors and mentioned they have to “function with a better customary…”
Politico reported:
The “hasty arrest” and swift dismissal of a trespassing cost in opposition to Mayor Ras Baraka “suggests a worrisome misstep” by interim U.S. Legal professional for New Jersey Alina Habba, a federal decide mentioned Wednesday afternoon.
U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide André M. Espinosa granted what he known as the “embarrassing retraction” of the misdemeanor cost following a Might 9 incident at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark that unfolded in a tussle between federal authorities and three members of Congress and resulted within the arrest of town’s Democratic mayor, who can be operating for governor.
Espinosa mentioned an arrest is a “extreme” step, not a part of an investigation, and he mentioned prosecutors should not attempt to safe convictions in any respect price, fulfill public clamor or advance political agendas.
“Your workplace should function with a better customary than that,” he mentioned.
