New Jersey says state police will replace federal agents outside ICE facility | New Jersey
Top New Jersey officials announced Friday that state police will take over policing duties outside the contentious Delaney Hall building from federal immigration officers, as reports emerged that federal agents were swarming to the area.
According to New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill and attorney general Jennifer Davenport, as part of state police taking over “public safety operations” in the area, they will create a “peaceful protection zone” for demonstrators and have protesters “move there today.”
The announcement came amid days of clashes between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, during which police officers pepper-sprayed, Tased and shoved protesters.
Demonstrators are protesting outside the detention center in support of detained immigrants at the facility who are participating in hunger and labor strikes to demand improved conditions. One of the strikers’ demands was to meet with Sherrill, who was denied entry to the privately run facility.
Friday was the eighth day of the strike, marking the beginning of a weekend of likely more clashes and violence. A pro-ICE counter protest is planned for the area Saturday morning.
It’s unclear how state police’s takeover of ICE to handle protests will be implemented and how federal agents will be involved in the process.
The governor and attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment, asking whether state police could arrest protesters leaving a “protected area” and whether that would violate the state’s “sanctuary” policy, which limits local authorities from cooperating with ICE.
A source at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal agency that oversees ICE, told the Guardian on Friday that an influx of agents had arrived to “defend” the Delaney Hall facility. Agents from other agencies, including the FBI, allegedly abandoned their current case work and headed into the field.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents will also investigate protesters at Delaney for alleged assaults on ICE officials, according to the source. HSI agents were seen guarding the facility on Friday. In previous days, officers from another ICE component had been tasked with protecting the facility, making HSI’s arrival Friday a new development.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the surge of agents and the governor’s claims that state police would take over the area. The FBI declined to comment for this story.
ICE officials have been clashing with protesters outside the facility for days. The demonstrators are there to support immigrants detained at the privately run Delaney Hall facility. The detention center, run by private prison company GEO Group, opened last year and has repeatedly faced accusations of “inhumane” conditions from detained immigrants, families, lawyers and lawmakers.
Last Friday, a group of detained immigrants began a hunger and labor strike at the detention center, demanding improved food and medical care and continued immigration proceedings. More than 300 people are currently participating in the strike. repeated allegations It was stated by DHS that there was no hunger strike at the facility.
“We are in detention, we are on hunger strike, we are demanding due process rights and improved conditions,” a man on hunger strike told the Guardian in an interview minutes after his release on Tuesday. “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.”
New Jersey also announced Friday that state officials will set up checkpoints at entry to the territory. The detention center is located in an industrial area of Newark surrounded by factories and packaging plants. The road in front of the facility is busy with transport truck convoys and is repeatedly closed as ICE officers push protesters away from the facility’s driveway.
