A rally took place outside Delaney Hall in Newark on Tuesday. Demonstrators are protesting the opening of what will become the largest immigrant detention center on the East Coast.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement announced last month its plans to reopen the facility under a contract with the private company The GEO Group.

Activists, families affected by mass deportations and elected officials all spoke at the rally, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

RELATED: Newark’s Delaney Hall to reopen as immigration detention center, according to ICE

Baraka, who is running for governor of New Jersey, said that he has been against the detention center from the beginning.

“They believe they can come here and open up. They have been very brazen and very arrogant,” the mayor said. “[They] have not taken out one permit. Have not gotten one inspection…have not done anything. They believe that they’re gonna open up and we’re saying, ‘You’re not gonna open up here in the city of Newark."

A similar battle has played out in the city of Elizabeth, where the state tried to close a private immigration jail by appealing a judge’s decision to keep it open.