New Jersey Gov. Rebecca ‘Mikie’ Sherrill on Saturday blamed out-of-state agitators for violent clashes outside an ICE concentration camp, a day after she deployed state troopers on horseback who launched tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades against demonstrators demanding the facility’s closure.
Five of the six people arrested during Friday night’s confrontations outside the Delaney Hall detention center were from New York and Pennsylvania, Sherrill said. The sixth was from New Jersey.
“To the people coming from out of state to create chaos and dangerous situations: You should not be here,” Sherrill told a news conference. “You are not helping the people detained at Delaney Hall, you are not helping detainee families, and you are certainly not keeping New Jersey safe.”
The clashes marked a dramatic escalation in what had been more than a week of increasingly tense protests at the privately run facility, where detainees have been on a hunger and labor strike over conditions that advocates describe as squalid.
Many of those held in the facility were suddenly taken from their everyday routines. Among them was hunger strike leader Martin Soto, who was on his way home with a pack of diapers when ICE agents abruptly surrounded him and took him away.
Immigrants detained inside the notorious Newark facility demand freedom. They have stopped eating and working to draw attention to the inhumane conditions, such as reported food containing worms, limited access to medical care and attorneys, and physical confrontations with guards.
Officials cut off visitation at the facility, but one woman, who said it’s difficult to be unable to see her husband, is proud of him for taking a stand.
“It makes me happy in the sense that he’s choosing to do the right thing. Nobody wants to not eat, but everyone is doing it for a purpose, and he’s part of that purpose,” the woman said.
The Department of Homeland Security and Geo Group, the private contractor that runs the facility, have denied those claims.
Loved ones and community members of those detained inside who rallied in support of the strike were met with violence from federal agents. Sherrill, a Democrat, announced Friday that state police would take over crowd control from ICE and establish a “peaceful protest zone.”
Hours later, lines of state troopers in riot gear with shields advanced on demonstrators on Doremus Avenue. Officers on horseback pushed through the crowd. Tear gas hung in the air. Flash-bangs popped. Rubber bullets cracked against pavement and bodies.
By the time the smoke cleared, an ICE vehicle had its windshield smashed, a paving stone resting on its hood. Conservative influencer Cam Higby posted a video of himself spraying pepper spray at protesters. Six people were arrested.
Members of the Proud Boys extremist group joined a counter-protest at Delaney Hall, following a chaotic clash between State Police and protesters that broke out Friday night.
The governor’s shift from promised de-escalation to tactical attack force happened fast.
Kathy O’Leary, New Jersey coordinator for the Catholic advocacy group Pax Christi, said she had been on the phone with an official from the attorney general’s office minutes before the advance.
“They were like, ‘Don’t worry … the state police are just gonna help ICE facilitate the shift change,’” O’Leary told Gothamist. “Up until the point when we saw the riot police with their riot shields, I thought we were gonna be okay.”
Norma Bowe, a nurse who said she was shoved to the ground by ICE during a demonstration earlier in the week, returned Saturday morning.
She had trusted Sherrill to keep protesters safe.
“I was trusting Mikie Sherrill to think about the security of us New Jerseyans,” Bowe said. “But as you can see, it’s actually escalated the situation.”
At a concert last week, Bruce Springsteen paused to draw attention to the “unrest” at Delaney Hall, mentioning hunger strikes, clashes, and the governor being denied access. He declared, “This is happening now,” while criticizing the administration’s policies as corrupt and Gestapo-like.
Sherrill defended the state police action, saying an increased ICE presence in the area posed a threat to public safety. “We know that lives would be at risk were that to happen,” she said. “And I will not accept that risk.”
But the violence did not end on Friday. Late Saturday, protesters pressed against police barricades, wielded makeshift shields, and struggled with officers for control of metal fencing. Police again deployed tear gas and flash-bangs.
Demonstrators set debris on fire in the roadway. Just after midnight, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka issued a curfew covering a half-mile radius around the detention center, effective nightly from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice.
The ACLU of New Jersey called the state police response “an unnecessary response to free speech and the right to peaceful protest.” Political director John Butler said in a statement that New Jersey’s response “must prioritize the safety and well-being of people – not mimic the dangerous and overly militarized tactics of the federal government.”
Sherrill’s critics saw a deeper pattern. John Arena, a professor at City University of New York-College of Staten Island and a leader of an activist group grounded in Rosa Luxemburg’s theories of democratic socialism and mass strikes, said the attack on immigrants has been a bipartisan operation.
“On Friday, New Jersey Democratic Governor unleashed her state trooper, horseback-riding, shock force as they launched tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bang grenades against the growing movement to shut down the ICE concentration camp in Newark—all in the name of defending the right to protest,” Arena said. “On Saturday, the troopers were joined by police forces from Democratic Party-run municipalities across Essex County, including Ras Baraka’s Newark, to force the movement into protest pens and crush the resistance.”
“From Genocide Joe Biden’s role in keeping privately run prisons open in New Jersey, to Mikie Sherrill’s campaign of terror, the attack on immigrants has been a combined operation of the Republicans AND Democrats,” Arena said.
Sherrill, on Saturday, again urged demonstrators to “bring the temperature down,” warning that escalating immigration enforcement operations could endanger detainees and other immigrants across the state.
She said her focus remains on gaining full access to Delaney Hall for her administration, restoring visitation for families, and ensuring proper medical care.
“We can’t let what’s happening outside Delaney Hall take us away from that mission,” Sherrill said.
But with state troopers in riot gear still lining the barricades Sunday morning, and a curfew set to fall again at 9 p.m., the mission already looked like something else entirely.
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