Car Rams Into Anti-ICE Protester Outside Controversial NJ Prison [VIDEO]

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A car rammed into an anti-ICE protester outside Delaney Hall in Newark last weekend, sending her to the hospital, authorities say.

On Sunday, a vehicle hit a woman who was protesting outside the controversial immigration detention center, which houses detainees from across New Jersey.

Footage of the incident has been circulating online, and can be viewed here. WARNING: Video contains violent images

Video footage shows a woman dressed in all black, standing with her back to the main road and waving an upside-down U.S. flag as a handful of other protesters stand nearby. She blows a kiss towards the jail and holds up her middle finger.

Moments later, a car – possibly a red Dodge Challenger – rams into the woman from behind, knocking her to the ground.

The Newark Police Department, which recently took over law enforcement duties outside the prison from the New Jersey State Police, told Patch the incident took place around 5 p.m. near Doremus and Roanoke avenues.

Emergency responders transported the woman to University Hospital. She was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

The incident remains under investigation, a police spokesperson said Monday.

The Sussex Visibility Brigade – which was holding a Father’s Day vigil outside the prison while other unaffiliated protesters stood outside the gate – said the car hit the woman from behind. “She was not blocking vehicles and was not aware it was coming,” the group alleged in a social media post.

Federal immigration agents then emerged from behind the gate and confronted protesters with pepper spray and mace, they said.

“ICE and the GEO Group attacked people who were there for a peaceful vigil, and family members who just wanted to be as close as they could get to their loved ones,” activists charged.

A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told Patch the driver was not an ICE employee, referring further comment to the GEO Group.

Patch reached out to the GEO Group seeking comment about Sunday’s incident. We will update this article with any reply we receive.

Article continues below

Meanwhile, federal authorities continue to claim that ICE agents and their vehicles are being targeted by drivers while trying to carry out immigration arrests across the nation, including in New Jersey.

According to local police, an ICE agent was struck by a car while trying to arrest someone in Manahawkin last week. The agent was reportedly trying to arrest a suspect when they fled the scene in a vehicle – hitting the officer, authorities said.

In February, a suspect allegedly attempted to evade arrest by ramming his vehicle into federal law enforcement vehicles after a major snowstorm in Newark.

• Related: NJ Man Accused Of Striking ICE Agent With His Van

Advocates and detainees have challenged federal authorities’ version of events, however.

In February, ICE detained Honduran national Jesus Fabian Lopez-Banegas in Roxbury. Homeland Security authorities alleged that during the arrest, Lopez-Banegas rammed into an ICE vehicle before trying to ram an agent, who shot out the tires of the car.

Lopez-Banegas told Patch that when he and his coworker were headed to work, he noticed a “bunch of people” and cars atop the hill near his house. While he was driving, one of the cars struck the back of his truck. Lopez-Banegas added that he didn’t see an agent with ICE identification until after he was cuffed in the back of an unmarked vehicle.

• Related: ICE Says He Tried To Run Them Over. NJ Detainee Says That's Not True

DELANEY HALL: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR

Delaney Hall formerly held immigration detainees for the federal government from 2011 to 2017 under the Obama administration, until it closed and was turned into a halfway house. The prison was the first federal detention center to reopen under the second term of President Donald Trump.

The prison’s owner, the GEO Group, is one of the largest private prison companies in the nation. The Trump administration has awarded the company a 15-year, $1 billion contract to run Delaney Hall.

Delaney Hall has seen a wave of controversy since it began holding ICE detainees again, including allegations of poor treatment, federal charges against the city’s mayor and a U.S. congresswoman, a high-profile prison escape, and a detainee who died in federal custody.

Hundreds of detainees launched a hunger and labor strike at the prison on May 22. Detainees say they are facing “inhumane” conditions, such as a lack of medical care, bad food and an unfair court system. They continue to demand their freedom, including the immediate release of elderly, young and pregnant people, as well as those with serious medical conditions.

The GEO Group and federal spokespeople have denied their claims of mistreatment.

When reached for comment about the allegations of mistreatment, a Homeland Security spokesperson told Patch that “this is the best health care many aliens have received in their entire lives,” pointing to mandatory assessments for new arrivals, access to “24-hour emergency care” and meals that are “certified by dieticians.”

The allegations have caught the attention of President Trump, who claimed that the United States runs the “finest facilities anywhere in the world of their type.”

Several U.S. Congress members have backed them up, however, including U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, who was exposed to pepper spray after trying to negotiate a compromise between protesters and ICE officers.

Last week, U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver – who represents Newark among other towns and cities – spearheaded a hearing on Delaney Hall that included testimony from witnesses, local community leaders and a military veteran who was detained by ICE.

“During our field hearing, experts and local leaders told about what ICE tries to hide at Delaney Hall,” McIver said. “But ICE can’t hide the truth: Delaney Hall must be shut down.”

The hearing got a thumbs-down from McIver’s fellow Congress member, U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew.

“What we saw today was not a serious effort to tell the truth – it was another attempt to push a political narrative, demonize ICE and mislead the public,” he criticized, alleging that the prison is “clean and well-run.”

A power struggle over Delaney Hall also continues to play out in the courts.

Earlier this month, Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced that the state attorney general’s office has filed a lawsuit against the GEO Group, demanding that the company allow state inspectors into the privately run prison.

Inspectors were previously allowed into the prison in May and gave it a passing score. However, the governor’s office alleges that it was only permitted to examine a small portion of the facility – a claim that the City of Newark has also made.

• Related: NJ Sues Owner Of ICE Prison, Gov Demands Inspections Amid Wave Of Complaints

PROTESTS AT DELANEY

Family members of detainees and advocates have been holding protests and vigils outside the jail since it opened more than year ago.

On May 22, the wife of a detainee reported that ICE was planning to move her husband to a different facility as retaliation for helping to lead the hunger strike. In response, community members assembled outside the detention center and blocked entrances with barricades to stop the transfer of any detainees. Several vehicles were prevented from leaving the facility – until ICE agents used pepper spray and batons to retake the gates and remove the barricades.

Video footage from the scene shows a tense confrontation between protesters and federal agents, with some demonstrators being forcibly dragged out of the roadway. Others can be seen forming human chains and pushing back against lines of ICE agents.

The protests– and arrests – have continued since then.

Federal authorities arrested nearly two dozen people in the span of a few days last month, accusing them of kicking ICE agents, spraying them with an “unknown substance” and throwing objects.

New Jersey state officials – including Gov. Mikie Sherrill – have also alleged that some demonstrators have gotten violent.

Last month, Sherrill announced that she was sending in state police to establish a “protest zone” outside Delaney Hall in an effort to de-escalate the situation. The situation didn’t cool, however – with some activists accusing state police of simply picking up where ICE left off.

On Saturday, the governor’s office announced that masked protesters “attacked” the barrier around the protest area and began throwing projectiles, using the barriers as weapons and lighting tires on fire in the street.

According to the governor, five of the six people arrested by state police were not New Jersey residents.

Newark police have shared video footage of incidents that have led to arrests outside Delaney Hall:

Protesters and advocates have vehemently disputed the allegations from authorities, however, claiming that ICE agents and police have been the aggressors.

Activists have posted multiple online reports of pepper spraying, baton-wielding and crowd-shoving. The people who have allegedly been sprayed include a local pastor and U.S. Sen. Andy Kim. Others have been “roughed up,” including a nurse who was allegedly shoved to the ground and a military veteran who was tackled to the ground while providing medical care to other demonstrators. Another video circulating online appears to show an ICE agent striking a protester with a baton, knocking them back into a moving 18‑wheeler truck.

Some activists have also disputed the official accounts from Sherrill and other New Jersey officials, claiming that they were “violently attacked without provocation” and sharing video footage from the scene.

Delaney Hall has also seen counter-protests from MAGA supporters and other who are supporting the federal immigration crackdown taking place under the Trump administration.

Dozens of pro-Trump demonstrators showed up at the prison on May 30, waving U.S. flags, giving speeches on megaphones and chanting “ICE… ICE… We love ICE!” Members of the right-wing extremist group, the Proud Boys, were also spotted outside Delaney Hall during the rally.

Need to catch up with coverage of Delaney Hall? View some of our recent articles below (click headline to read):

• ICE Protests Explode At NJ Prison: What We Know So Far
• Arrests Continue At Delaney Hall After ICE Drawdown – But They’re Slowing Down, NJ Mayor Says
• NJ Sells Stake In Prison Company That Runs Delaney Hall, Report Says

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com