Delaney Hall protests continue as tensions with ICE escalate

About 200 detainees remained on a hunger and work strike inside the Newark detention facility on Wednesday.

For a sixth straight day, protesters rallied outside Newark’s Delaney Hall detention center on Wednesday as detainees inside continued a hunger and work strike.

On Wednesday night, violent confrontations between guards and demonstrators erupted outside the facility on Doremus Avenue. Protesters wore googles, respirators, and bandanas to protect themselves from pepper spray and tear gas.

Video footage of the confrontations with ICE appeared to show federal agents pushing a protester into the path of an 18-wheeler truck, which then ran over the protester’s leg. The footage also showed agents pinning the protester to the ground before carrying him away.

Demonstrators also clashed with masked federal agents the previous night. Witnesses said baton-wielding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents repeatedly fought with scores of protesters gathered outside the facility. Activists had locked arms to block transport vans careening through the compound’s barbed-wire gates.

The chaos escalated as night fell, with shouts and obscenities cutting through the Newark night as scuffles broke out and agents chased down certain people they appeared to target.

“The demonstrations had been peaceful … until we saw this growing number of ICE agents who had been rushing toward protesters every time they needed to get cars in and out of the facility,” said independent journalist Kevin Ortega-Rojas. “They use that as an opportunity to use excessive force, pepper spray, and rubber bullets … several people were badly injured by ICE agents.”

Kathy O’Leary, coordinator of Pax Christi New Jersey, told The Jersey Vindicator on Wednesday that ICE hunted for and grabbed U.S. Army veteran Adam Marshall because he’s a trained medic.

“He said, ‘I have to be here, because people are getting hurt and I have to help when they get injured,’” she said. “Then ICE came out of the facility and said, ‘Eyes on the target,’ ran past a whole bunch of other people, and went behind a car to grab him.”

“They’re targeting the medics,” she continued. “It’s about creating terror and fear.”

ICE pulled Marshall into the facility, she said, then released him about an hour later, dumping him out of the vehicle on Rutherford Avenue in Newark.

On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement that ICE officers had been assaulted by “anti-ICE rioters who sprayed law enforcement with an unknown chemical substance.”

“Two individuals were arrested for assaulting, resisting, and impeding federal officers,” Mullin said. “Assaulting and obstructing ICE law enforcement is a crime and felony. Anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Trump also commented on the protests at a Wednesday cabinet meeting, according to WPIX 11.

“These aren’t protesters; these people are fake, they’re all paid for,” Trump claimed without evidence. “We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world of their type.”

Activists have protested outside Delaney Hall, the privately operated 1,000-bed immigration detention facility, since more than 300 detainees launched a hunger and labor strike on May 22 to protest a lack of due process in court and what they describe as squalid, inhumane conditions at the facility.

Since the strike began, Sen. Andy Kim and Rep. Rob Menendez have regularly appeared outside the controversial facility. After inspecting the site over the weekend, the Democratic lawmakers described filthy bathrooms with backed-up toilets and raised concerns about inadequate medical care and abusive guard behavior.

Demonstrations have drawn a powerful response from ICE, and the encounters have repeatedly turned violent, including a Memorial Day melee in which ICE agents deployed armored trucks and shot pepper balls into the crowd.

Kim was trying to de-escalate the confrontation when he and a staff member got caught in the crossfire and were hit with pepper ball spray.

“Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in a Cabinet meeting today, said I was complaining about being hit by a pepper spray ball at Delaney Hall, and he said that I shouldn’t be there,” Kim said on social media.

“What I’m complaining about are these detainees and their families talking about the inhumane treatment they are going through on our soil, using taxpayer dollars that’s now funded toward GEO Group,” Kim said. “They are getting billions of dollars, and ICE is getting billions of dollars, without holding anyone accountable for the lawlessness.”

Federal officials have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, with Department of Homeland Security acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis even claiming there was, in fact, no hunger strike.

“This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks,” Bis said in a statement posted to the DHS website. “There is NO hunger strike at Delaney Hall. There are NO subprime conditions or abuse at the facility.”

Activists on the ground beg to differ.

Eyes on ICE New Jersey, a grassroots advocacy group, confirmed Tuesday that about 200 detainees are still on strike.

Participants have demanded an in-person meeting with Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who visited the facility briefly on Monday but was not allowed inside.

They have also asked for the immediate release of elderly, pregnant, young, or sick detainees; a “meaningful review” of immigration cases and habeas filings; and an end to what they have described as pressure to sign deportation documents.

“ICE and GEO Group personnel have used intimidation tactics and have attempted to discourage participation in the strike, including through unit-level interventions and threats of disciplinary consequences,” Eyes on ICE said in a statement.

Private prison firm GEO Group, which has a 15-year, $1 billion contract to run the site, has allegedly retaliated against the detainees by shutting down TVs, cutting off access to commissary accounts, leaving the lights on all night, randomly turning off the water, and denying detainees access to tablet or video calls.

Guards armed with rubber bullet guns and batons are also patrolling the units, according to Eyes on ICE.

GEO Group did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

“The people inside are peacefully protesting their detention,” said O’Leary. “They’re just refusing to work and refusing to eat. They’re not hurting anybody. They’re hurting themselves. But they’re threatening them with violence, too.”