Violence erupted Tuesday night outside Delaney Hall, a privately run immigration detention facility in Newark, as federal agents in riot gear charged protesters with pepper spray and Tasers. The clash marked an escalation in demonstrations that have gripped the facility for five days as detainees inside refuse food and labor in protest of conditions they describe as inhumane.
The confrontation came just hours after masked ICE officers had sprayed US Senator Andy Kim during an attempt to enter the facility on Monday. By Tuesday evening, tensions that had simmered through the afternoon boiled over when a protester threw an umbrella at an officer, prompting dozens of federal agents to rush the crowd across the street and fire chemical spray directly into faces.
The pattern repeated several times over the next few hours. Protesters chanted and hurled bottles of water at agents, who responded with orange-colored spray that left people coughing and crying. At least seven journalists were sprayed during the evening, according to observers on scene. In one particularly brutal moment, ICE officers chased a protester onto nearby railroad tracks, where an agent discharged a Taser into his back. The man went rigid and collapsed onto gravel before officers carried him back inside the facility.
Between 300 and 400 detainees are participating in the strike, according to activists and former detainees who spoke with reporters. They are demanding better food, improved ventilation and air conditioning, faster medical care, and expedited processing of their immigration cases. Two men recently released from the facility confirmed their participation despite official denials from the Trump administration that any strike is occurring.
Luis, one of the recently released detainees who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was arrested during a routine immigration check-in after three and a half months inside. He criticized the profit motive behind his continued detention. "If they freed us, we wouldn't generate profit for this business," he said, referring to GEO Group, the massive private prison company that operates the facility. "If we are going to be detained for months so that this company can profit, they should at least provide a better service."
Another former detainee, speaking briefly after his release Tuesday afternoon, said conditions had devastated his health. "I was in there for three and a half months. It's heavy, we're still not eating," he said in Spanish, his voice trembling as he stepped onto the street. Fearing retaliation, he refused to give his name and cut the conversation short, saying, "I don't want to say anything more because then they'll take me back."
According to letters released by advocates, detainees have reported witnessing worms in their food, severe ventilation problems, widespread flu and lice infestations spreading unchecked, and inadequate medical responses. Senator Kim posted extensively on social media Sunday detailing allegations including that a woman suffered a miscarriage at the facility with no support and that another pregnant woman could not access proper obstetric care. Detainees there also reported being arrested during interviews for permanent residency, a practice that has accelerated under the second Trump administration.
GEO Group responded to questions by touting its services: "around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access" and meals provided under ICE monitoring. The company said it is "proud of the role our company has played for 40 years to support the law enforcement mission" of ICE.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin dismissed the entire situation as political theater. "There is no hunger strike at Delaney Hall. There are no subprime conditions," Mullin posted on social media Tuesday. He claimed detainees receive three meals a day prepared by certified dieticians, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, toiletries, comprehensive medical care, and access to phones. He called the lawmakers' attempt to enter the facility "a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks."
When confronted with the violence Tuesday night, Mullin characterized the protesters themselves as the aggressors. "ICE law enforcement officers were assaulted by anti-ICE rioters who sprayed law enforcement with an unknown chemical substance," he said. The agency announced two arrests for assaulting, resisting, and impeding federal officers.
The facility sits in an industrial section of Newark surrounded by factories and packing plants. The air around it reeks of sewage and chemicals, a condition that intensified Tuesday under scorching heat. Throughout the day, over 100 protesters gathered outside the gates chanting and jeering at agents armed with guns, batons, Tasers, and pepper spray. A steady stream of trucks passed by, some sounding their horns in support of the demonstrators.
Families arrived at the gates asking to visit relatives locked inside, only to be turned away. DHS suspended all visitation, citing "riots outside the facility." Staff reportedly removed tablets from detainee units, cutting off external communication. Yet those inside remain committed. Luis said the strike will continue until Governor Mikie Sherrill enters the facility to meet directly with detainees. Sherrill had requested access Monday alongside other lawmakers but was denied.
Delaney Hall represents a flashpoint in New Jersey's ongoing battle over immigration detention. The state passed a law in 2021 banning privately operated detention facilities, but GEO Group sued with support from the Biden administration. The lawsuit ultimately struck down the law, and ICE signed a 15-year contract with GEO Group to reopen Delaney, which had been shuttered in 2023 after operating as a halfway house. ICE and GEO Group began detaining immigrants there in May 2025.
The facility has been violent terrain since it reopened. Last May, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested attempting to enter. US Representative LaMonica McIver was later charged with crimes following a skirmish outside the gates. In June, detainees pushed down a wall inside and four escaped. In December, a Haitian man detained there died of "suspected natural causes."
Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, emphasized the consistency between what detainees report and what elected officials have witnessed firsthand. "Conditions were bad enough for people to lose their pregnancies. They were bad enough to start a lice infestation, to have a strain of flu that has been going around untreated. That's what got people to strike," she said.
Catalina Adorno, a volunteer with Cosecha, an immigrant rights organization in New Jersey, underscored the stakes of the silence. "The stories coming out of what is going on inside are horrendous," she said. "We want to make sure they're being heard. It wasn't until Friday that they were like: 'We don't think we're being heard. No one is listening to us.' So on Friday, they decided to launch their strike."
The human cost of the standoff continues to mount. One hunger-striking detainee reportedly fainted inside the facility Monday, and facility staff did not respond. Other detainees revived him with salt water, encouraging him to eat. Torres raised a direct question about the implications: "If this is what federal agents are willing to do to the public, what are they doing to the people they have in detention?"
Author James Rodriguez: "The Trump administration's denials ring hollow when released detainees are literally shaking with fear and talking about worms in their food, and when federal agents are pepper-spraying journalists in broad daylight to cover it up."
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