After weekend clashes, protests continue under curfew near Newark ICE facility
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By Gloria Pazmino, Rebekah Riess, Emma Tucker, CNN
(CNN) — Protests continued Sunday past a nightly curfew near Delaney Hall, an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, over alleged inhumane conditions for the detainees inside.
Several protesters were arrested after refusing to leave once the curfew began, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said.
“A group of individuals who had come to the protest armed with helmets, shields, or gas masks deliberately refused to comply with repeated orders to leave the area and were arrested,” Davenport said in a statement.
A heavy law enforcement presence could be seen moving protesters from the curfew zone outside Delaney Hall, according to video from Freedom News TV obtained by CNN. Officers, many marked as state police, were seen forming lines with riot shields, and several protesters appeared to be taken into custody.
CNN has reached out to the New Jersey State Police, Newark officials and the Department of Homeland Security for more information.
Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka enacted the curfew in a statement early Sunday, after protesters and law enforcement clashed outside the facility again Saturday night.
“Due to the escalating situation at Delaney Hall and the increasing need for police intervention, immediate action is required to protect public safety,” Baraka said.
The curfew will continue nightly from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice, his statement said.
Separately, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Sunday that DHS had met her demand to restore family visitation at the facility. Limited visitation was set to resume at noon Sunday, with regular visitation hours restored Monday, she said.
Protesters have gathered for days outside the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility where inhumane conditions have been alleged for months.
Some of the detainees’ lawyers said tensions first escalated over Memorial Day weekend when hundreds of detainees went on a hunger strike to protest spoiled food and wretched conditions. DHS has denied that there was a hunger strike.
Earlier, Sherrill condemned the dangerous actions of some protesters during Saturday’s demonstrations, which she said “put both peaceful protestors and law enforcement in danger.”
“Masked individuals at Delaney Hall attacked the barrier in the protected protest area and began aggressive and dangerous actions against Newark and New Jersey State Police, including throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street,” Sherrill said Sunday.
Video from Saturday showed mounted officers moving into the crowd as tear gas appeared to fill the air and protesters using chairs and other debris to start a fire in the street.
The Saturday night demonstration came hours after a group supporting ICE faced off with anti-ICE protesters outside the facility.
Some “national extremist groups” were involved in Saturday’s protest at the facility, Sherrill said, without identifying which groups.
“I do not know why these individuals attacked or what they wanted to accomplish, but 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,” Sherrill added.
As more people showed up to the protest, a SWAT team arrived in full riot gear, joined by officers from area police departments and the New Jersey State Police. The protest remained orderly, state police Lt. Col. David Sierotowicz said at an afternoon news conference.
During a cabinet meeting Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin criticized politicians speaking out about conditions at the facility, saying “there was only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat because they want their ethnic group, or their ethnic-right food.”
“Many detainees have been subjected to having worms in their food, and I wouldn’t say, as Mr. Mullin stated, that is an ‘ethnic choice of food’ – I think they just don’t want to eat worms,” said Alex Minogue, an attorney at Nova Law Group who represents people in the facility, told CNN Saturday.
DHS has continued to push back against the allegations of inhumane living conditions.
“Sanctuary politicians are spreading categorically false smears about ICE’s Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey. These types of smears are inciting violent riots outside the ICE facility in New Jersey,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement Friday.
“No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been better treated than illegal aliens. They are provided 3 meals a day, medical care, and receive full due process,” the statement continued.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he visited the facility Sunday morning and “learned of unsanitary living conditions, lack of adequate medical care and unhealthy food.”
Congressional oversight visits will continue “to make sure that everyone is being treated with dignity and humanity,” his statement added.
New Jersey Rep. Rob Menendez said he has seen for himself the “inhumane conditions” and a lack of adequate health care at the facility.
“The administration can continue to put out press releases or they can come on the ground and see for themselves,” he said in a Saturday interview with CNN.
While there have been some “incremental” changes such as adding a second full-time doctor for detainees, there should be continued pressure on the Trump administration to address the facility’s conditions, Menendez said.
State police established a protest zone
New Jersey officials announced Friday the state police would take over public safety operations from ICE agents outside Delaney Hall “to help lower the temperature” after days of protests that have at times escalated.
Sherrill said state police would establish a “peaceful, protected protest zone in the area right outside Delaney Hall.”
ICE has “agreed to remove themselves from the immediate area, decreasing potential agitation from the protesters,” Sierotowicz said during Friday’s news conference.
This followed workers from the GEO Group – which operates Delaney Hall – painting yellow lines onto the sidewalk and posting “private property” and “no trespassing” signs outside the facility’s main entry points Friday morning.
DHS told CNN the state’s announcement was “a win for law and order,” while doubling down on its earlier statement the governor had refused to allow state police to assist ICE agents at the protests.
Mullin thanked the governor for “now allowing the New Jersey State Police to cooperate with us” in a statement Friday.
On Saturday, the governor reiterated her call to demonstrators, urging them to protest “peacefully in the safe areas, and work together to bring the temperature down.”
“We need to focus on advocating for better conditions for the detainees, for their families, and ultimately, for the closure of Delaney Hall,” Sherrill said.
“We support every American’s constitutional right to peacefully protest. No one has the right to RIOT and ASSAULT law enforcement,” Mullin said in a statement Saturday. “We hope to build on this partnership and work together to remove the worst of the worst from New Jersey communities.”
Clashes with state police
Clashes between protesters and state police troopers, including some on horseback, happened Friday night as the troopers tried to clear a path for vehicles to exit the facility, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement.
“A limited number did not comply with repeated requests to clear a safe passage for the vehicles and took dangerous actions, including deploying fireworks and throwing gas canisters at law enforcement, that put everyone in harm’s way,” Davenport said.
Law enforcement issued multiple dispersal announcements to give protesters “multiple opportunities to comply” as “agitators surrounded a marked enforcement vehicle and made threats towards personnel, creating immediate safety concerns,” Sierotowicz said Saturday.
After the dispersal orders, people were seen retrieving face coverings, gas masks, fireworks, rocks and other projectiles from a nearby tent area, he added.
Mounted troopers moved through the crowd to push protesters back, video from Freedom News TV obtained by CNN showed. Protesters were later seen pelting ICE vehicles with kitchen towels and trash as garbage littered the ground.
State police are ensuring “minimal hand-to-hand interactions,” and none of the troopers fired rubber bullets or struck anyone with a baton Friday night, Davenport said Saturday.
Six protesters were arrested Friday night, five of whom came from outside the state, according to the governor. All were arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct along with either endangering another person or obstruction of justice, state police said.
Nine people were arrested during similar protests Thursday night, Mullin said in a statement to CNN. “Anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.
Depending on how the protests continue, DHS had previously said it was considering pulling Customs and Border Protection officers from duty at Newark Liberty International Airport to assist agents outside Delaney Hall, a move that could lead to air travel delays.
“An increased ICE surge in the area outside of Delaney Hall is a threat to public safety. We know that lives would be at risk were that to happen. And I will not accept that risk,” Sherrill said in a statement Saturday.
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CNN’s Holly Yan, David Williams, Taylor Romine, Sarah Boxer, Chris Boyette, Sarah Dewberry, Nayeli Jaramillo-Plata and Hanna Park contributed to this report.
