this is likely to benefit him tremendously in the gubernatorial race, where he’s running in the Democratic primary but has generally been the third or fourth wheel to this point. if you’re curious about more details of how he’s been protesting, DocumentedNY has you covered:

To representatives of Delaney Hall, the mayor was staging a publicity stunt. But to the mayor, Delaney Hall was pitting his city in a direct confrontation with the Trump administration’s deportation agenda. Delaney Hall, Baraka claimed, was violating city and state laws by contracting with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and by prohibiting him from entering the facility, they were evading the enforcement of city codes.

In April, the city of Newark filed a lawsuit to block Delaney Hall from reopening and to allow city officials to inspect the facility for code violations. The Trump administration has since attempted to intervene to stop the lawsuit.

For nearly three hours, the mayor and his staff, along with over a dozen protesters who chanted “Say it loud, say it proud, immigrants are welcome here,” waited to be allowed in.

Nearby, two bulldozers from the Newark Department of Public Works, each carrying a large concrete slab, were parked nearby as a veiled threat to the detention center’s management, insinuating that if they do not comply with the city’s mandates, the mayor might order the facility to be barricaded.

When asked if he planned to place barricades outside the facility, Baraka, who is currently running for governor of New Jersey, smirked and stated he was entertaining the idea.