Clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement outside a New Jersey immigration detention center since late May have become the latest flashpoint for protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
More than 80 people have been arrested following a series of protests outside Delaney Hall in Newark, where demonstrators say they are showing up in solidarity with detainees inside over accusations of poor living conditions.
The Trump administration has defended the treatment given to detainees at the 1,000-bed facility.
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The facility is owned by Geo Group, a private prison contractor that runs multiple detention centers across the country.
Detainees launched a hunger strike last month, according Cosecha, an immigrant advocacy group. They issued a number of handwritten letters from inside with their demands, including improved living conditions and better medical care, as they say some are being denied medication.
Detainees across the country have alleged medical neglect for serious and chronic conditions, and they have announced hunger strikes at other facilities.
The Delaney Hall detainees say they are being given moldy and expired food, some of it with maggots, and are housed in overcrowded cells that lack air conditioning. Democratic members of Congress from New York City visited the facility early in the protests and said the detainees' accounts are credible.
President Donald Trump and his deputies have defended the center’s operations and denied there is any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside.
“The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said recently. “This isn’t Holiday Inn.”
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, praised the food after a recent visit. “The spaghetti was good,” he told CBS News.
GEO Group has dismissed the criticisms as “a politically motivated campaign by outside groups to dismantle ICE and federal immigration detention by targeting the government’s facility contractors.”
The protesters, some wearing gas masks and helmets, have used traffic cones, trash cans and other items as makeshift shields, and they tried to block vehicles from entering or leaving the facility.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche shared images online of bloody wounds and bruises sustained by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Videos on social media show officers in riot gear deploying tear gas and using batons to beat back the demonstrators. Some videos have shown police on horseback marching into the crowds.
On Friday night, ICE officers arrested four on charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, obstruction and threats, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on X. Newark police, meanwhile, said they a Seattle man was charged with criminal mischief for smashing car windows.
"No one has the right to come into our city, destroy personal property, or incite violence,” Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda posted on social media. “Think twice before coming to Newark with any other agenda than to protest peacefully.”
One law enforcement official was charged with stealing $10,000 worth of camera equipment from an Associated Press photojournalist who had been injured while covering the standoff. The journalist, Angelina Katsanis, was struck in the knee by a wood beam during a clash between police and demonstrators. She sought medical attention and used a geo-tracking device to trace her missing gear to his home, the state’s attorney general said Thursday.
Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill was initially reluctant to intervene in the growing protests. But as the violence intensified, she declared the situation had “grown unsafe” and “unacceptable” and called in the state police to restore order.
State troopers set up designated protest zones and vehicle checkpoints as ICE officers who had been stationed in front of the detention center agreed to stand down.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, meanwhile, imposed a 9 p.m. curfew and sent in city police to enforce it.
But just a week later, the Democrat declared the city would be scaling back its police presence, saying arrests had dropped and he was reluctant to continue spending tax dollars to guard a privately owned facility.
The state’s attorney general this week filed a lawsuit against Geo Group, alleging the facility denied state health inspectors “full access” to investigate allegations.
