State and federal authorities spar over protests at U.S. immigration detention centers

Days of unrest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark have led to a number of arrests, as President Donald Trump’s administration’s hardline stance on immigration policy continues to draw opposition, including from Democratic-led state authorities.

At least 17 people have been arrested in scuffles with federal agents over the past three nights, according to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

“Approximately 100 anti-ICE rioters gathered around the Delaney Hall ICE facility. The rioters bit, kicked, and punched law enforcement officers,” Mullin wrote on the X after the clashes Thursday night. He complained that state police were not deployed to assist ICE officers.

Footage from US media showed scuffles between protesters and law enforcement officers, who used pepper spray.

“Our state police will take over public safety operations from ICE outside Delaney Hall this afternoon,” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said at a press conference on Friday.

Democratic state Gov. Mickey Sherrill added: “We are seeing an escalating public safety risk outside of Delaney Hall that has become unsafe and that is completely unacceptable.”

“We all need to do everything we can to cool things down right now. I will not give ICE an excuse to expand operations in our state.”

Delaney Hall is a private, 1,000-bed facility exclusively for ICE and has been operating since 2025 under pressure from the Trump administration to deport millions of illegal immigrants.

New Jersey, on the U.S. East Coast, is a so-called “sanctuary state” that voluntarily limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

– Internal hunger strike –

The riots outside Delaney Hall began after detainees inside Delaney Hall launched a hunger strike and labor strike to protest conditions.

Cosecha, a group that advocates for undocumented immigrants, this week published a handwritten Spanish-language letter signed by 300 detainees, saying they are being “unreasonably detained,” lacking adequate medical care and being fed “poor food.”

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who toured the facility on Wednesday and said he spoke with dozens of detainees, echoed those concerns.

“Most of the people I spoke with had no criminal records, had not been charged, and had not been convicted of the violence that Donald Trump promised Americans,” Booker said in a statement.

“Delaney Hall should be closed,” he added.

Sherrill said she was denied entry Monday. Democratic Gov. X said the New Jersey Department of Health was able to inspect the center’s food service facility Thursday but was denied full access.

“The denial of full access raises serious questions about what ICE is trying to hide from public view,” she added.

Mullin responded to her on X, saying ICE detention centers are regularly inspected and audited by “outside agencies.”

“All detainees are provided with appropriate meals, quality water, blankets and medical care, and have the opportunity to communicate with their families and lawyers,” he said.

Authorities said a counterprotest was planned for Saturday, but participants would gather in a separate area from anti-ICE demonstrators.

New Jersey authorities and the Trump administration are already locked in a legal dispute over anti-immigration measures.

The U.S. government is trying to block Sherrill’s efforts to prevent federal agents from hiding their faces in the state.

Meanwhile, the town of Roxbury, New Jersey, is trying to block the conversion of a commercial warehouse into a detention center.

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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.