Several protesters were arrested overnight for defying a curfew at Delaney Hall, the Newark, New Jersey, immigration detention center that has been the site of more than a week of clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators supporting immigrants detained inside.
The arrests Sunday night came less than 15 minutes after state officers in riot gear, some on horseback, issued a dispersal order to people gathered outside a half-mile exclusion zone around the facility, CBS News reported. The New York Post, whose journalists were at the scene, reported at least 20 to 25 arrests. The Immigration Coalition, an advocacy group, said on social media that more than 46 Delaney Hall protesters were arrested.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport posted on X that a group of individuals “had come to the protest armed with helmets, shields, or gas masks, [and] deliberately refused to comply with repeated orders to leave the area,” resulting in their arrest.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka mandated an immediate 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on Sunday “due to the escalating situation at Delaney Hall and the increasing need for police intervention … to protect public safety,” he said in a social media post. Baraka said multiple individuals were arrested Saturday night in possession of weapons.
On Friday, Davenport and Governor Mikie Sherrill announced that state law enforcement would take over policing duties outside the detention center from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in an effort to lower tensions. The facility, operated by the Geo Group, one of the largest private prison companies in the United States, has an average daily population of between 800 and 900 detainees.
Delaney Hall detainees have been engaged in hunger and labor strikes against conditions at the center and the temporary suspension of visitation rights for their families by government officials.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters after a congressional oversight visit on Sunday with Representatives Josh Gottheimer, Rob Menendez Jr., and LaMonica McIver that conditions inside the facility did not meet American standards.
“We spoke to several individuals, none of whom has a criminal record, many of whom have been detained here at Delaney Hall for months,” Jeffries said. “The lack of access to quality food, that’s not America. The lack of access to adequate medical treatment, that’s not America. The retaliation that’s taking place, that’s not America. The fact there are 18-year-old high school girls being held here is not America.”
Jeffries said the Trump administration would “be held accountable” for conditions he and his colleagues observed and called for the facility to be shut down. He said those connected to the facility were “engaging in a depraved indifference to human life.”
The Department of Homeland Security, in a direct response to Jeffries, said: “This is a detention center – we do not provide luxury accommodations. What we do provide are basic necessities.”
In a separate statement, DHS dismissed allegations of mistreatment and complaints of meager or inedible food portions sometimes containing maggots as “a hoax” promoted by certain politicians. “No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been better treated than illegal aliens,” the agency said, adding that detainees at Delaney Hall receive “FULL due process,” medical care, and three meals a day, with a menu that includes “fajitas, burritos, jambalaya, fruit, vegetables, salads, brownies, and cake.”
DHS also posted a video on Sunday night of an apparently unarmed protester sitting on a curb who was dragged at gunpoint behind a line of officers in riot gear and shields. “Don’t be this guy,” the caption read. Previous DHS social media posts carried messages including “law and order” and “ZERO tolerance for rioters.”
Sherrill said in a statement Sunday that violence by protesters endangered law enforcement and the public. “I refuse to let these dangerous actions detract from New Jersey’s dedication to ensuring public safety, keeping people safe from ICE, and that the people detained inside Delaney Hall are treated with dignity,” she said.
Sherrill confirmed that family visitation at Delaney Hall had been restored to part of the site on Sunday and would resume fully on Monday. DHS had suspended visitation rights citing the violence in the facility’s proximity.