Protests at Delaney Hall
For the last year, protests have taken place outside of Delaney Hall, an ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey. Over the last week, the protests have grown larger, as activists work to support a hunger strike currently undertaken by the detainees. The detainees demands include a meeting with New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, the release of the vulnerable within the prison, reviews of due process violations, and the end of coercive self deportations. Some activists have friends and family inside the detention center, while others are broadly concerned about immigration enforcement and detainment in America.
Protesters have built barricades at the entrances, hoping to keep vehicles from bringing more detainees into the facility. The facility sits directly on a four lane main thoroughfare; two lanes in each direction are dedicated to parking, and the other two lanes are a steady stream of 18 wheeler trucks. There have been many near misses as agents push the crowd into the street, or pepper spray protesters and press, who are left temporarily blind in the middle of the road.
On Wednesday night, a couple of protesters decided to intentionally block the trucks from passing through. Dozens of trucks lined up in both directions. The other protesters begged them to move out of the street, but they refused. Eventually, one trucker got out of his cab and yelled at the protesters. The agents stayed lined up in front of the facility, joking around about their relief over not having to break up infighting among the protesters.
Eventually, the trucks maneuvered around the protesters. At the same time, ICE vehicles needed to return to the facility, and agents pushed everyone back into the street. The truck drivers, who had just been forced to wait, likely both wanted to leave and did not fully understand what was happening. Agents came out swinging their batons, and one kicked a protester into the wheel well of a moving truck, running over his foot. Later in the evening, Newark emergency services showed up looking for the protester, but left without him, saying things were taken care of.
ICE has also started tasing and threatening to tase protesters, with one apparent leader gleefully announcing people will be getting tased.
ICE’s presence outside of the facility is much smaller than what was seen at the Whipple building in Minnesota, or the Broadview facility outside of Chicago. They appear to be understaffed, or at least believe themselves to be understaffed. On Tuesday, they stationed their vehicles in front of the facility to help hold the line against the protesters. Several agents initially told me they were intentionally understaffed, as the agency moves away from the violent visuals of the prior Border Patrol surges they worked on.
“We do the best we can with what we have,” an agent said about the use of the cars to build a fortress. But when two agents ran after a protester on Wednesday night and returned empty handed, another agent pointed at the pair. “I wasn’t letting him go alone. Someone ran with him!” indicating confusion over where agents were, or who they were partnered with.
Eventually, some agents conceded they did not have enough staff, but said more were being deployed to Newark — which has since happened, though state police have indicated they will take over crowd control measures.
While on the ground, I shot this video for Mother Jones. Please give it a watch!
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