On Saturday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin spoke with CNN's Victor Blackwell about the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at an incident outside an ICE facility.
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00:00I want to start here just broadly. What happened there at the facility that justified arresting
00:07the mayor of the city of Newark? Thanks, Victor, for having me. I'm glad I can be here to actually
00:12give viewers the facts. What happened as that these members of Congress, including the mayor
00:18as well, in a mob of protesters, as there was a bus full of detainees going through the gate,
00:24they stormed the gate and actually entered the first security checkpoint. This put law
00:29enforcement at risk, and this actually put the detainees as well at risk. If any official,
00:34including these members of Congress, want to enter the facility and take a tour, DHS is more
00:39than accommodating. But just because you're a member of Congress does not mean you can break the law,
00:44trespass, put law enforcement at risk, and storm the detention facility. I haven't yet to hear
00:50anyone on this network actually talk about who is in this detention facility. There are members of
00:56MS-13 known terrorists, murderers, child rapists. There are some of the worst of the worst in this
01:03detention facility. And I'm still very confused why these Democrats are so hellbent on getting these
01:08heinous actors out of this facility when we have the proper permitting. And actually, in that press
01:14conference, those members of Congress actually noted the great conditions of this facility that
01:20our ICE enforcement officers so bravely operate. So, as you said here today and in your statement,
01:26that they stormed the gate and broke into the detention center, according to the statement,
01:33was anybody else arrested other than the mayor of Newark? There were multiple people arrested.
01:38And, Victor, I think that we should let viewers know there will likely be more arrests coming. We
01:43actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE
01:49enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer. So, we will be showing that
01:56to viewers very shortly. You say a video of members of Congress body slamming ICE officials?
02:02That's correct. Officials? That's correct, sir. It's disgusting.
02:06Okay. And so, if you have that video, are you suggesting that members of Congress will be
02:12arrested who were there yesterday? This is an ongoing investigation,
02:15and that is definitely on the table. Who has the video?
02:19ICE does, and we will be releasing that very shortly.
02:22Okay. Let's talk about the facility, because what the mayor says, and he's been saying for several days,
02:30is that you all don't have the proper permitting, or at least the facility, owned by Geo Group,
02:36a private company that's contracted with the federal government, does not have the proper
02:41permitting, the certificate of occupancy, and there are some violations. To that, you say what?
02:48That is flat-out false. That is just political gamesmanship. We have the proper permitting.
02:53We've gone through proper inspections. It's a joke. And by the way, he should not—this is a guy who is
03:00going and storming an ICE detention facility. He's putting detainees at risk. He's putting law
03:05enforcement at risk. He's joined by a mob of people who have said we should end ICE. This is nothing
03:12more than political games, and we're not playing. So, there's a member of Congress,
03:18LaMonica McIver, who says that—she told USA Today that ICE asked the mayor to leave. He did.
03:26And from the video that I've seen, when he was taken into custody, he was on public property. He
03:32was no longer on the private property of Geo Group. So, if he was asked to leave and then he
03:38complied, why then take him into custody? Whether you are a civilian, a mayor, or a member of Congress,
03:46if you are storming an ICE detention facility and putting law enforcement and detainees at risk,
03:51you can bet that we will arrest you and you will face the law, you will face justice. These other
03:57members of Congress will as well, as will the other protesters, some of which were arrested.
04:02Okay. So, we've got the mayor coming up in just a moment. But while I have you,
04:06I want to ask you about this reporting that the president is in conversations about suspending
04:12habeas corpus, one's right to challenge their detention in court. What would be the purpose of
04:19that when the Constitution says that there are very rare opportunities for this to happen only
04:26when there is an invasion? And so, why would that be necessary at this point? We could put up here
04:33this Section 9 of Article 1. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended
04:38unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.
04:44Victor, I'm not going to get ahead of the president. I'm not going to get ahead of Secretary Noem
04:48when they have an announcement to make. They will make it. But I am looking forward to your
04:52interview with the mayor. I wonder what he'll say about the body camera footage of some of his
04:56colleagues assaulting law enforcement agents. I wonder if he thinks that they should be held
05:00accountable because they will be.