United States: Clashes Outside the ICE Delaney Hall Facility

Featured image: Protesters in front of ICE Delaney Hall Facility. Source: FNTV

Protests have erupted outside Delaney Hall, an ICE immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, in response to the inhumane conditions reported by detainees at the facility.

Expired food, lack of medical care, denial of family visits, among other issues—immigrants detained at the center denounce “inhumane conditions”, as well as mistreatment by center staff, including beatings and the use of pepper spray. This has led 300 detained immigrants to go on hunger strikes to protest the conditions and has sparked protests outside the facility.

Outside the center, anti-ICE protesters have staged militant demonstrations against the center’s conditions and anti-immigrant policies. Hundreds of people have been demonstrating for days, denouncing the situation they are facing. According to New Jersey’s governor himself, the protesters are “throwing projectiles, using barriers as weapons, and setting tires on fire in the streets.”

According to witnesses, when tear gas was fired indiscriminately at the protesters, they responded by erecting a barricade made of chairs, tires, and other objects.

The State’s attempts to stop the protests have been in vain. Despite the large number of officers, including mounted police, the use of pepper spray, and mass arrests, the protests have continued. Daily and random arrests have been reported, but there is no clear official figure.

This situation has led the government to impose a curfew within a one-kilometer radius of the detention center, from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., which went into effect on Sunday, May 31. However, this has not prevented protests from resuming tonight.