‘We are not criminals’: protests erupt as hunger strike rocks New Jersey ICE jail | New Jersey

Protests against immigration enforcement at a facility where detainees are on hunger and labor strikes sparked new violence Tuesday night as federal officers sprayed chemicals and attacked demonstrators outside a prison in New Jersey.

After hours of relative silence, tensions rose again outside the Delaney Hall facility on the fifth day of the strike, a day after masked and armored Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel pepper-sprayed U.S. senator Andy Kim.

At one point Tuesday evening, a protester who threw something at ICE officers was chased by dozens of officers, Tased and then taken to jail.

The Newark-based ICE facility is operated by GEO Group, one of the largest private prison companies in the United States. According to activists and detainees, between 300 and 400 detainees are participating in the strike; It demands improved food, ventilation and medical care, and continued immigration proceedings.

The hunger and work strikes and protests come as the Trump administration continues to engage in its controversial and increasingly unpopular aggressive mass deportation campaign, targeting immigrants across the country for detention and deportation.

A letter from the detainees was published by lawyers on Tuesday morning. Two men recently released from Delaney confirmed they took part in the strike in interviews with the Guardian, despite the Trump administration denying that such a strike had taken place.

“We are in custody, we are on hunger strike, demanding due process rights and improved conditions,” one of the men told the Guardian. “We are not criminals, we are people who got in” [the facility] with a clean record. We pay our taxes. [We are] Dads. Mothers. “Spouses of citizens with existing petitions.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Luis was released from Delaney Hall and met with immigration advocates. He spoke to the Guardian minutes later and asked that his face be covered and his identity remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from ICE. He said he was detained by ICE during a routine check with authorities. It’s an unusual situation for people with a legal case going through the immigration system. But arrests during such checks became an increasing practice of the agency during the second Trump administration. He said he had been locked up in Delaney Hall for three and a half months.

“If they had let us go, we wouldn’t have made a profit from this,” Luis said, referring to contractor Geo Group. His hands were shaking as he spoke, but he explained it assertively. “If we are going to be detained for months so that this company can make a profit, they should at least provide a better ‘service’,” he said.

In response to questions from the Guardian, Geo Group released a statement in which a spokesperson said the company provides detainees with “24-hour access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, public and legal library access” and other services, including meals. The spokesperson also noted that all services are monitored by ICE, adding that they are “proud of the role our company has played for 40 years in support of ICE’s law enforcement mission.”

As night approached on Tuesday, a group of ICE officers armed with guns, batons, stun guns and pepper spray stood outside the facility’s gates, occasionally pushing the crowd back so official cars and pickup trucks could enter and exit the facility.

This comes after a busy weekend of demonstrations and clashes. A number of Democratic lawmakers, including New Jersey Senator Andy Kim and Governor Mikie Sherrill, attempted to enter the facility on Monday. Kim made several visits to the facility in his congressional capacity and declared the conditions “inhumane.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE’s parent agency, and the department’s secretary, Markwayne Mullin, on Tuesday accused Democratic politicians of “spreading smears” about ICE and denied that the demonstration took place. “No hunger strikes at Delaney Hall. No subprime conditions,” Mullin said sent on social media.

Mullin said detainees receive three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, toiletries and comprehensive medical care evaluated by certified dietitians.

“Illegal aliens also have access to phones to communicate with family members and attorneys,” Mullin said in a statement.

According to their statement Tuesday, Delaney Hall strikers complained about inedible food they observed containing worms, inadequate infrastructure with no air conditioning and inadequate ventilation, persistent flu and other viruses spreading throughout the facility, delayed medical care and delays in immigration cases. letter. In privately run ICE detention centers across the country, detainees do cooking, cleaning and laundry work and receive very little pay. $1 per day.

“One thing was consistent about this entire chaotic situation, and that’s what the people inside were reporting about their experiences and what our federal representatives witnessed,” said Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Immigrant Justice Alliance. “Conditions were bad enough for people to lose pregnancies. Bad enough for lice infestations, bad enough for them to catch a strain of flu that was going around untreated. That’s what drove people to strike.”

Who gave a long speech a series of posts X on Sunday listed allegations about Delaney Hall, including that a woman had a miscarriage at the facility and had to deal with it on her own, that another woman who was pregnant did not receive full OB/GYN support, that people were detained there after being arrested while interviewing for U.S. permanent residence (green cards), and a host of other allegations of injustice.

Mullin called Kim and other lawmakers’ attempts to break into Delaney “a political stunt by sanctuary politicians in New Jersey to raise funds,” citing the fact that New Jersey is a state where cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE is limited.

The facility is located in an industrial area of ​​Newark surrounded by factories and packaging plants. The facility’s air is disgusting, smelling of sewage and chemicals, made worse by Tuesday’s heat and scorching sun. A continuous convoy of trucks passed by the facility, some honking their horns in support of the protesters.

Protesters chanted and shouted at ICE officials throughout the day. A pro-ICE counterprotester arrived late in the afternoon and stood between ICE officers and protesters, shouting colorful insults.

As a typical workday ended and the truck convoy slowed down, the protesters, numbering more than 100, and several dozen ICE officers began to grow more agitated. Around 7:30 p.m., as the crowd chanted, a protester threw an umbrella at an ICE officer, prompting mask-wearing agents to charge into the crowd, chase them across the street, and fire pepper spray, causing protesters to cough and tear up.

The dynamic played out several times over the next several hours, as protesters chanted, shouted, and threw objects such as water bottles at authorities, who responded by spraying orange spray directly into people’s faces. ICE officers were charging into crowds and chasing individuals, pepper-spraying anyone in their path. A Guardian photographer observed at least seven journalists being sprayed throughout the evening.

At one point, more than a dozen officers charged into the crowd and pursued a protester who ran across the street and toward the gravel-covered train tracks. As protesters ran, an ICE officer fired his stun gun, striking the protester in the back. The protesters’ bodies stiffened and fell on the stones. ICE officers picked him up and carried him into the facility, pushing and threatening to spray others who got in their way.

“Tonight, ICE law enforcement was attacked by anti-ICE rioters who sprayed law enforcement with an unknown chemical agent,” Mullin said. in question Tuesday night. “Two individuals were arrested for assaulting, resisting and obstructing federal officers.”

Families with young children came to the door of the facility throughout the day and wanted to visit their loved ones inside, but they were not turned away.

Another man, who spoke to the Guardian shortly after being released from the facility on Tuesday, said: “I was there for three and a half months. It’s heavy, we still can’t eat. I hope they can help those inside.” The man looked shaken, overwhelmed and nervous as he stepped onto the street where protesters were chanting. “I don’t want to say anything more because then they will take me back,” he said in Spanish, anonymously, as dozens of media surrounded him.

The strike will continue until Sherill enters Luis said he met with the detainees. On Monday, Sherrill, along with other deputies, requested entry to the facility but was denied.

ICE detention in New Jersey has been a political tension point for years. The state passed a law in 2021 banning the use of privately owned facilities for immigration detention. But a private prison company filed a lawsuit. Support from Biden administrationIt led to a legal battle that eventually brought down the law. Amid the lawsuit, ICE signed a 15-year contract with GEO Group to reopen Delaney Hall, which operated as a middle school until its closure in 2023. ICE and GEO Group began detaining immigrants here in May 2025.

Since then, Delaney Hall has been the target of protests. Last May, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested after demanding entry to the facility, and U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver was later charged with various crimes after a confrontation outside the facility. In June, protesting detainees destroyed a wall inside the facility and four escaped. A Haitian man detained in Delaney in December died of “suspected natural causes.”

“The stories coming out of what’s going on inside are horrific,” said Catalina Adorno, a volunteer with Cosecha, an immigrant rights organization in New Jersey. “We want to make sure they’re heard. By Friday, they said: ‘We don’t think we’re heard. Nobody’s listening to us.’ So they decided to start the strike on Friday.”

After the strike was announced, Delaney Hall staff reportedly removed tablets from units within the facility, limiting detainees’ communication with the outside world. DHS said in a statement that “all visitation is suspended at this time due to riots outside the facility.”

Immigrants detained in Delaney are determined to continue the strike. On Monday, one of the men on hunger strike reportedly fainted inside the facility. According to Luis, facility staff did not help the man, so others in the unit gave him salt and sugar water, encouraging him to break his hunger strike and eat.

Protests continued late into the night on Tuesday. Torres, of the New Jersey Immigrant Justice Alliance, pointed out the tactics of ICE officers.

“If this is what federal agents want to do to the public, what are they doing to people in custody?” Torres asked.