The arrest of Newark's mayor.

I’m Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle: an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day — then “my take.”

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Some very good content for you.

On Friday, Senior Editor Will Kaback revisited the 2022 baby formula shortage: how it happened, how the story disappeared, and what we can learn from it three years later. The response to the piece so far has been positive, and we’re considering making this a recurring series for major news stories that have quietly faded away. You can read Will’s piece here.

On Sunday, Executive Editor Isaac Saul and Managing Editor Ari Weitzman discussed the new American pope, responded to criticism of our reporting on Trump’s first 100 days, and broke down President Biden’s appearance on The View. You can listen to the conversation here.

Quick hits.

Editor’s note: We’re including two extra Quick Hits today to account for a particularly news-heavy weekend.

1. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reduce drug costs for U.S. consumers by basing payments for some medicines on their prices in other countries. (The announcement)
2. The United States and China agreed to a significant reduction in tariffs on each country’s imports for 90 days while they continue to negotiate a trade deal. (The agreement)
3. The Trump administration reportedly plans to accept a super luxury Boeing 747 jumbo jet as a gift from the royal family of Qatar to use as Air Force One until shortly before the end of his term, at which point he will transfer it to his presidential library foundation. (The report)
4. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Turkey to discuss the future of the Ukraine war after President Trump urged Zelensky to agree to the talks. (The meeting) Separately, U.S. and Iranian officials held a fourth round of nuclear talks in Oman and reportedly agreed to a fifth meeting after each side’s representatives meet with their country’s leaders. (The talks)
5. Hamas said it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, believed to be the last living U.S. national held captive in Gaza, as a step toward a potential ceasefire agreement. (The release)
6. On Saturday, President Trump announced India and Pakistan had agreed to a ceasefire following four days of missile, drone, and artillery strikes. (The latest)
7. Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was released from a detention center in Louisiana and returned to Massachusetts following a judge’s order that she be freed on bail. (The release)

Today's topic.

The arrest of Newark’s mayor. On Friday, federal officers arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) for trespassing at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in New Jersey. The mayor was protesting at the facility when, according to Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba, he “ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself.” Baraka was later formally charged and released from custody; he denies any wrongdoing. 

Back up: Delaney Hall, the detention facility where Baraka was arrested, is owned and operated by a private prison company, the GEO Group. In February, the Trump administration awarded the company an estimated $1 billion, 15-year contract to use Delaney Hall as a federal immigration processing center. Immigrant-rights advocates have long opposed the facility’s operation, claiming that its detainees have been abused and neglected. The city of Newark sued the GEO Group in April, alleging that Delaney Hall lacked a valid certificate of occupancy. The city also filed a complaint against ICE for purportedly opening the facility without proper building safety protocols.

Prior to Baraka’s arrest, the mayor and three New Jersey Congressional representatives — Bonnie Watson Coleman (D), Rob Menendez (D), and LaMonica McIver (D) — arrived at Delaney Hall to conduct what they called a congressional oversight visit. After briefly entering the facility’s grounds with the delegation, Baraka was asked to leave; he did so while the representatives continued their tour. However, a confrontation ensued in the parking lot involving protestors, Baraka and federal agents, resulting in the mayor’s arrest.

On Saturday, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin suggested the three lawmakers could face charges for allegedly assaulting federal officers. “There will likely be more arrests coming. We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer. So we will be showing that to viewers very shortly,” McLaughlin said. Watson Coleman denied the accusations.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin criticized federal officials for Baraka’s arrest, saying, “Arresting public officials for peacefully protesting violates the most basic principles of our democracy. The arrest of Mayor Baraka earlier this afternoon outside Delaney Hall in Newark is deeply troubling.” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) called the arrest “disturbing, unnecessary and indicative of tactics that are undermining the safety and security of our communities.”

Separately, state Republicans said the arrest was justified. “[Baraka] should be embarrassed by his behavior. His antics put the safety of our members of law enforcement at risk and jeopardized the ability for them to do their job,” Bill Spadea, a Republican candidate for governor, posted on X.

Today, we’ll cover Baraka’s arrest and the controversy surrounding Delaney Hall, with views from the right and left. Then, my take.

What the right is saying.

• The right says Baraka’s actions justified his arrest.
• Some suggest the bodycam footage of the arrest shows Baraka was in the wrong.
• Others question Democrats’ priorities on immigration. 

In Fox News, David Marcus said “Dems put law enforcement at risk with pointless antics.”

“Among the most dangerous jobs that any American can do is guarding prisons, and among the hardest prisons to guard are facilities that hold members of foreign gangs like MS-13. Yet, for some idiotic reason, the mayor of Newark, N.J., and three members of Congress, all Democrats, decided to make that job even more dangerous on Friday,” Marcus wrote. “Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested during the despicable display, something he almost certainly planned to happen. Did I mention he’s running for governor? And Democrats from across the country decried his detention as another example of Trumpian authoritarianism.”

“What did Baraka think was going to happen when he illegally and stupidly tried to break into prison? There are countless ways that Baraka and the lawmakers could have exerted oversight without inviting criminal chaos,” Marcus said. “As the White House was quick to point out, this facility holds murderers and rapists, the worst of the worst, but somehow, through the slow-working moral poison of leftism, these elected officials are convinced the criminals are the victims.”

In RedState, Bonchie called the video of the arrest “damning” for Baraka.

Even before the bodycam footage came out, “others showed the Democrats involved shoving ICE agents and forcing their way through the checkpoint… That's not up for debate, and Baraka's claim that he ‘did not enter that place unlawfully’ is objectively false,” Bonchie wrote. “In [another] video, you can hear the Homeland Security agent asking Baraka to leave, and he also goes on to point out that multiple other warnings had already been given. You'd think CNN, being a supposed news organization with access to all this information, would have bothered to correct the record.”

“Regardless, I want to point out that even if Baraka wasn't asked to leave ‘for over an hour,’ that would be irrelevant. There is no period of time by which trespassing becomes legal if lower-level agents aren't sure how to handle the situation at first. Had Baraka's first warning only come from the Homeland Security official who showed up, it still would have been perfectly justified to arrest and charge him,” Bonchie said. “That he was arrested outside the fence doesn't change the fact that he was trespassing before that. If I break into your house but end up out on the lawn when police arrive, that doesn't negate the crime that was committed. I still go to jail, and Baraka should be prosecuted.”

In PJ Media, Matt Margolis wrote “Democrats keep doubling down on their pro-illegal immigration gambit.”

“They didn’t learn their lesson after the election. They didn’t learn their lesson after the Abrego Garcia situation blew up in their faces. Now, the Democrat Party's bizarre obsession with protecting illegal aliens reached new heights of absurdity on Friday when several New Jersey Democrats attempted to force their way into a detention facility housing some of the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens in custody,” Margolis said. “What these Democrats were doing had nothing to do with oversight. This was about Democrats continuing their radical agenda of protecting criminal illegal aliens at the expense of American citizens' safety.”

“It gets even worse. Rep. LaMonica McIver was caught on video physically confronting ICE agents outside the facility. A sitting member of Congress assaulted federal officers while trying to interfere with the detention of criminal illegals,” Margolis wrote. “This incident proves once again that Democrats will stop at nothing to undermine President Trump's successful border policies. But with each passing day, their radical pro-illegal immigration stance becomes more indefensible. The American people can see exactly where their priorities lie — and it's not with law-abiding citizens.”

What the left is saying.

• The left is alarmed by the arrest, suggesting the White House is distorting the story.
• Some note the difference between Baraka’s treatment and his mayoral counterpart in New York City. 
• Others say Baraka’s actions were justified, even if somewhat performative.

The Trentonian editorial board said Baraka’s arrest “should be concerning to all.”

“Even some of [Baraka’s] detractors and political opponents were rightfully dismayed that a high-profile public official would be arrested for protesting and calling for more transparency from the federal government paying huge sums of money for a private prison with no accountability to the city,” the board wrote. “Alina Habba, Trump-appointed interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, made claims on social media that Baraka refused to comply with ICE demands to leave the facility… Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, posted on social media that ‘Democrat officials riotously stormed and invaded an ICE facility to secure the release of the following criminals and terrorists here illegally.’”

“What happened on the ground is drastically different than that story. Bonnie Watson Coleman, U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 12th district, with Representatives LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez Jr., said they were there to exercise oversight authority, giving them the legal right to be there,” the board said. “The federal propaganda pushes a narrative that peaceful protest and legitimate Congressional oversight is somehow criminal activity. That should upset anyone who might possibly criticize any government agency.”

In The New York Daily News, Harry Siegel compared the Trump administration’s treatment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams to Baraka.

“Eric Adams tight-walked the line between pathetic and malignant with his last-minute trip to the White House Friday for a meeting he’d requested with Donald Trump… While Adams was in Washington saying hello, Newark’s Ras Baraka was in his own city getting arrested by Homeland Security Investigations agents, many of them masked, for supposedly trespassing at the massive new ICE lock-up that opened earlier in the week,” Siegel wrote. “If this was a stunt, it was at least one — unlike Adams’ the same day — with a clear public purpose.”

“The prison just across the Hudson is owned and operated by the for-profit GEO Group, which signed a $1.2 billion contract with ICE… Baraka has been fighting the company in court, arguing the prison hasn’t gone through the necessary inspections to safely and legally operate, while repeatedly attempting to visit before his arrest on Friday and release hours later,” Siegel said. “Ironies abound: Where Baraka has been trying to use building inspections to block a privately run prison meant as a no-exit waiting room for endless deportation flights, Adams was charged with prying open similar administrative bottlenecks to get a private building open in time to please the foreign patrons who’d paid for his pricey world travel.”

In NJ.com, Daysi Calavia-Robertson said Baraka’s “ICE arrest is a shameless political stunt. And I love him for it.”

“Was this some kind of publicity stunt by a man running for governor, as his Republican opponents quickly charged? Was ICE out of pocket for arresting him, especially in the way they did? Both things can be true,” Calavia-Robertson wrote. “If it looks like a P.R. stunt, and sounds like a P.R. stunt, and you’re currently third in the polls five weeks from the primary ... well, it might just be a P.R. stunt. Even so, I’m good with it. Better than good. It makes me like Baraka even more. I admire his determination to boldly call attention to the ‘good trouble’ he’s more than willing to cause.”

“At the heart of those stunts, and at the heart of this one, is a politician’s desire to virtue signal. To his base. To say, ‘Hey, look at me! I’m showing up for you in this big, big way. Remember to show up for me on Election Day,’” Calavia-Robertson said. “Sadly, it’s worked for Trump. But when Baraka does it, it’s at least coming from a good and worthy place. Yes, it’s true that like any good politico, he wants to drum up votes. But we can’t ignore that he’s also courageously standing up for undocumented immigrants who right now are the most vulnerable in his city. And in our country.”

My take.

Reminder: "My take" is a section where I give myself space to share my own personal opinion. If you have feedback, criticism or compliments, don't unsubscribe. Write in by replying to this email, or leave a comment.

• Baraka’s arrest is very different from the other recent immigration-related arrests.
• It looks like the mayor got the result he wanted, and the officers seem to have handled the situation pretty well.
• The reaction to the arrest from both sides feels overblown, but I worry that we’re going to see a lot more confrontations like this one.

First and foremost: Mayor Ras Baraka got exactly what he wanted.

As even folks on the left (like Calavia-Robertson above) are willing to admit, “If it looks like a P.R. stunt, and sounds like a P.R. stunt, and you’re currently third in the polls five weeks from the primary ... well, it might just be a P.R. stunt.” I don’t think it’s difficult to put two and two together. 

We also shouldn’t conflate this incident with other high-profile, immigration-related arrests that have dominated the news recently. Kilmar Abrego Garcia and other migrants were still sent to a private Salvadoran prison without any due process. Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts student ostensibly arrested for an op-ed critical of Israel in a student newspaper, was finally released on bail this weekend. The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was a more complicated case, but also more alarming than anything that happened in Newark. From my perspective, all three of those enforcement actions were instigated by the state and (to varying degrees) unnecessary or dangerous; Baraka’s brief detention is simply in a different category. 

The condensed timeline of events in this story goes like this: Delaney Hall has been a flashpoint in Newark for years. With the stories I mentioned above still ongoing, immigration is a top-of-mind issue for many voters right now. Baraka arrived at the facility to a crowd of protestors cheering him on — he likely saw an opportunity for some “good trouble,” as the late Rep. John Lewis put it. From what the body camera footage shows, the mayor was warned several times that he’d be arrested if he didn’t leave; he left the secured area, remained in the parking lot, and was then arrested. The agents were aggressive and unnecessarily physical (even in the video they released), but the incident was not all that surprising or concerning.

To the law enforcement officers’ credit, they were correct in stating that Newark’s mayor quite obviously has different jurisdiction than federally elected officials at a detention center used by ICE. The members of Congress who did end up entering and inspecting the facility reported back that it appeared safe and clean. I’m sure if any of them (or Baraka) wanted to visit the facility without cameras and news crews broadcasting the entire interaction across the country, they could have. They chose a public-relations route instead. That might be good politics, but the ensuing incident wasn’t a dangerous clash between elected officials and law enforcement; it was really just run-of-the-mill activism and publicity hunting by a local politician. 

In other words: I don’t judge the federal officers harshly for how they comported themselves. They were a little grabby, but the officers appeared to be calmly and deliberately doing their jobs. Conversely, the Department of Homeland Security’s allegation that members of Congress “stormed the gate” and “broke into the detention facility” is not at all supported by the videos I saw. 

To that end, I don’t judge Baraka that harshly either. He represents a deep-blue city with a lot of citizens who object to the detention center’s existence and appear to have credible reasons to allege the facility is not permitted properly. DHS alleges Baraka trespassed Delaney Hall, which is a good way to get arrested, but he did so peacefully; and when he was arrested he had already exited the facility. He did not start a riot or resist arrest or encourage any of the many citizens there to do anything stupid. In the video released by DHS, he seems calm and collected — not agitated or dangerous. Despite the screaming headlines, the whole thing was pretty normal, as far as demonstrations go.

With all that said, I want to end on one closing note of pessimism: Confrontations with federal authorities are not going to stop.  

Before President Donald Trump came into office, I said repeatedly that my biggest fear was that Trump could not possibly be able to enact his ambitious deportation agenda without law enforcement clashing with private citizens. I think we are just beginning to see this come to fruition. In Massachusetts last week, a huge crowd swarmed ICE agents attempting to arrest a local woman. In the video of Baraka’s arrest, you can hear supporters screaming to “surround” the mayor to prevent the agents from getting to him and see at least one citizen get thrown to the ground. 

I hate to say it, but I think it’s clear where all this is headed. It will only take one incident breaking out into full-blown violence for more resistance to Trump’s agenda to ramp up, instigating more aggressive tactics from law enforcement, creating a cycle that will be hard to put the brakes on. I’m not worried by the details of Baraka’s arrest, but I am deeply concerned by what it portends for the future. 

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Your questions, answered.

Q: It seems like the Dems will have a good chance of retaking the House in the midterms. Ignoring the outside influences that can impact it between then and now, which party has the advantage in the Senate in 2026?

— Lou from Key West, FL

Tangle: It’s still early, so we definitely don’t want to wade into the prediction waters and say which party looks poised to take the House in 2026. Since U.S. Representatives serve two-year terms, every district holds an election every two years, making every midterm election eventful; and the 2026 fight for the House looks like it will once again be very competitive.

Senators serve six-year terms, and 33 Senators across 33 states — 13 Democrats and 20 Republicans — will have their terms end in 2027. However, as of now, the total number of seats up for Senate election in 2026 is 35. This total includes the two special elections for the remaining two years of the terms being served by interim Senators Ashley Moody (R-FL), who replaced Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Jon Husted (R-OH), who replaced Vice President JD Vance.

That’s a total of 22 Republicans defending seats to Democrats’ 13, which indicates that Republicans would have a disadvantage. But those numbers are misleading. Remember: Republicans have a six-seat advantage already, so there are just more Republicans in the chamber than Democrats. Also, 11 of those 22 seats are rated safely Republican and another eight are likely. Conversely, only seven of Democrats’ 13 seats are safe and only two are likely.

Bottom line: The map is not just harder for Democrats; it’s a nightmare. They have to defend four competitive Senate seats currently held by Senators Jon Ossoff (GA), Gary Peters (MI), Tina Smith (MN), and Jeanne Shaheen (NH) — and the last three are retiring, setting up wide-open races. Meanwhile, they’ll have to not only hold all their incumbent seats but flip every competitive Republican seat — held currently by Senators Susan Collins (ME), Thom Tillis (NC), and Husted — just to force a 50–50 split, which would be broken by Vice President Vance anyway. 

If Democrats do flip the Senate in 2026, it would be an upset of historic proportions.

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Under the radar.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the federal government was reducing the number of flights out of Newark Liberty International Airport following two incidents in which air traffic control lost all communications with inbound and outbound flights. In the first incident, on April 28, controllers who were responsible for monitoring air traffic in and out of Newark reported a 90-second technology outage that left them unable to “see, hear, or talk” to flights in the airspace. A similar outage occurred on Friday, leading to significant flight delays and cancelations. Duffy said it is still safe to fly through Newark, but “we’re seeing stress on an old network, and it’s time to fix it.” The Hill has the story.

Numbers.

• 2000. The year Delaney Hall detention facility opened to house federal, state, and county detainees.
• 1,000. The number of beds at Delaney Hall. 
• 450. The number of immigrants ICE housed at Delaney Hall between 2011 and 2017.
• 6. The number of candidates running for the Democratic nomination in New Jersey’s 2025 gubernatorial election.
• 9%. The percentage of registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents in New Jersey who say they support Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in the party’s gubernatorial primary, tying him for fourth-highest among the candidates, according to an April 2025 Rutgers-Eagleton poll.
• –1%. Baraka’s net favorability rating, according to the same poll.

The extras.

• One year ago today we published a Friday edition from Executive Editor Isaac Saul about why he could be wrong about the Israel–Gaza war.
• The most clicked link in Thursday’s newsletter was why you shouldn’t keep open cans in the fridge.
• Nothing to do with politics: The Social Security Administration released important data: the top baby names of 2024.
• Thursday’s survey: 1,368 readers answered our survey on the likelihood of an India–Pakistan war with 54% saying one is likely within the next six months. “While I am not as well versed as I should be, it seems that Modi is an authoritarian and will have the last word, no matter the cost to his country. What is a surprise is that it has not already started. We can (and do) hope that reason prevails,” one respondent said.

Our questions, answered.

Last Thursday, we asked for your thoughts on potential changes to how we survey our readership and categorize arguments (currently “What the right/left is saying.”) Your answers were appropriately mixed, but certainly gave us enough reason to want to continue experimenting with these features (as you can see in today’s survey question, after Isaac’s “My take”). 

Thank you to all those who answered our survey, and please — continue to let us know what you think of our work!

Have a nice day.

First-time mom Maggie Boynton was overwhelmed traveling with her newborn daughter and husband in Japan when one evening, a waitress noticed the couple struggling to eat dinner while juggling baby duties. She approached them, making the unexpected offer to hold their baby so they could enjoy their meal together. “She has no idea how much this means to me because I was so overwhelmed,” Maggie shared. “Even just 10 minutes for us to enjoy our meal was all I needed.” Sunny Skyz has the story.

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