Family visitation partly restored at New Jersey ICE facility after week of protests | New Jersey
New Jersey’s governor and U.S. homeland security officials confirmed Sunday morning that family visitation at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center had resumed in at least part of the facility, following a week in which heated demonstrations in the area were met with aggressive police tactics.
Meanwhile, families of detained immigrants were grappling with conflicting information about who among them, exactly, would receive visitation. announcement From Governor Mikie Sherrill and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Additionally, local officials had imposed an indefinite nightly curfew for a closed area, including Delaney Hall, starting at 9 p.m. until Sunday.
The Delaney Hall visit was canceled after detained immigrants began an ongoing hunger and labor strike at the detention center; This led to protests outside the facility in support of the strikers.
Facility staff confirmed to the Guardian on Sunday that units, known as units 1 and 3, were opened to visitors at around noon and 14:00 local time respectively.
Unit 1 is the women’s section of the facility. Unit 2 is where the majority of hunger-striking detainees are located, and it was unclear Sunday whether they would have access to family visits.
Sherrill’s office and GEO Group, the private prison company that operates the facility, did not respond to a request for comment. The road to Delaney Hall is now completely closed by police except for families trying to visit loved ones in custody, state officials announced Sunday afternoon.
The governor’s announcement and subsequent confusion for families came after violent clashes between local authorities and protesters outside the facility overnight. Following this, Newark mayor Ras Baraka responded as follows: activating curfew in the area around Delaney Hall.
Baraka’s office said the curfew would be in effect from 9pm to 6am every night “until further notice” and threatened arrest or legal action if people did not disperse during that time.
Sherrill and other top New Jersey state officials said Sunday morning that three people had been arrested as a result of clashes with police Saturday night. State officials said these arrests occurred after a group of protesters attacked police and a barrier.
The Delaney Hall protests and clashes have become the latest flashpoint in growing opposition to the aggressive anti-immigrant tactics that Donald Trump’s administration has deployed across the country throughout his second presidency.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains immigrants in a network of facilities across the United States, while the cases of those detained continue in the courts.
ICE detention centers have been repeatedly criticized for harsh conditions.
Hakeem Jeffries, the top U.S. House Democrat from nearby New York, made an oversight visit to Delaney Hall on Sunday and in question Prison conditions “shock the conscience”.
On May 22, a group of immigrants detained at Delaney Hall announced a hunger and labor strike at the facility, demanding improved conditions, medical care, a meeting with Sherrill, and the continuation of their immigration cases. Since then, between 300 and 400 prisoners have joined the strike.
Protests soon began as lawmakers attempted to visit the facility. The facility gained further national attention after ICE officers pepper-sprayed U.S. senator Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, outside the facility during a confrontation on Monday.
ICE officers used pepper spray and stun guns throughout the demonstrations. They also pushed and arrested protesters.
On Friday, Sherrill and other top New Jersey officials announced that state police would replace ICE officers outside Delaney Hall. State police set up roadblocks for about a half-mile on either side of the detention center.
Clashes broke out that night when state troopers began attacking protesters. State police officers on horseback rode through the crowd. Other state police officers in riot gear fired tear gas canisters at protesters, aggressively pushed demonstrators and arrested six people.
Advocates in Delaney Hall on Saturday repeatedly criticized Sherrill, a Democrat, for her response to the protests.
“The tension [on Friday] “This was ten times worse than what ICE had done to everybody the nights before,” Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigrant Coalition, said in an interview outside the facility on Saturday. “Essentially, the escalators were the state police.”
A statement from Sherill on Saturday announcing the resumption of family visitation at Delaney Hall claimed that DHS had “granted our request.” However, DHS denied the governor’s statement.
“To be clear: Visitation was suspended solely due to violent riots,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Now that we have a safe environment, visits can continue.”
