Newark Allows Anti-ICE Protesters Back Onto Streets Outside Delaney Hall

NEWARK, NJ — “The world is watching.” This was the message from Newark Mayor Ras Baraka as he lifted a nighttime curfew and controversial “free speech zones” for protesters around Delaney Hall on Tuesday night.

“After last night’s protest without a single arrest, we are lifting this curfew to allow full expression of the American right to free speech and to peacefully assemble,” Baraka said.

“Let us put our focus on the compassion care of each other as we strive for the liberty and wellbeing of those inside Delaney Hall,” the mayor added.

A series of clashes between ICE officers and protesters has been taking place outside the federal immigration detention center for two weeks.Dozens of arrests have taken place so far, with protesters accusing feds and state police of pepper spraying them, roughing them up and violating their civil rights.

Meanwhile the detainees inside the prison are allegedly facing “inhumane” conditions such as a lack of medical care, worm-ridden food and an unfair court system – claims that federal and prison spokespeople have denied.

Homeland Security spokespeople have accused the protesters of attacking ICE agents. New Jersey state officials – including Gov. Mikie Sherrill – have also alleged that some demonstrators have gotten violent.

Protesters and advocates have vehemently disputed the allegations from authorities, however, claiming that ICE agents and state police have been the aggressors – and there is video footage online proving it.

Last Friday, the governor took action, announcing that she was sending in state police to establish a “protest zone” outside Delaney Hall in an effort to de-escalate the situation.

Working together, the New Jersey State Police and Newark Police Department began creating “roadway diversions” that blocked drivers from accessing the area. The City of Newark also instituted a night curfew for half a mile in each direction from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The situation didn’t cool, however.

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. Several additional arrests took place.

Some activists have disputed the official accounts from New Jersey officials, claiming that they were “violently attacked without provocation.”

>> RELATED: ICE Protests Explode At NJ Prison: What We Know So Far

Since last weekend’s fires and arrests, the scene has calmed at Delaney Hall, authorities say.

On Monday, the state attorney general’s office announced that it is handing off primary command of the scene at Delaney Hall to the Newark Police Department.

“The area around Delaney Hall remains calm,” Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said. “As always, New Jersey state police will continue to assist local law enforcement in keeping communities safe and protecting the constitutional right to peacefully protest.”

Baraka commented on the handoff of policing duties, saying that it’s nothing Newark hasn’t handled before.

“The City of Newark sees protests all the time and we have our own way of policing based on community relationships, the integrity of protestors and upholding personal freedoms,” the mayor said.

“The world is watching,” he added.

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. It was the first federal detention center to reopen under the second term of President Donald Trump.

Its owner, the GEO Group, is one of the largest private prison companies in the nation.

The prison has seen a wave of controversy since it began holding ICE detainees again, including allegations of poor treatment, a hunger strike, 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.

MAYOR: ‘WHY PEACEFUL PROTESTS ARE NECESSARY’

Baraka has been among the critics of Delaney Hall since it reopened.

The mayor was arrested outside the prison last year during a protest. Federal prosecutors accused Baraka of trespassing and ignoring multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the scene – charges that were later dropped.

Federal assault charges against another Democratic lawmaker at the scene – U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver – are still pending.

Baraka issued the following statement about the renewed wave of protests at Delaney Hall on May 31:

“For well over a year, there have been constant protests in front of Delaney Hall, with people from all over the state coming together to voice their concerns and to try to shut it down.

“During one of those protests, I was arrested and charged. My longtime friend and Congresswoman McIver still faces serious charges because of that protest. I know all too well how ICE can abuse its authority; it is one of the reasons for my personal lawsuit against them. Nonetheless, Newark remains committed to our immigrant residents, and we are still fighting in court with the GEO Group as I write this.

“The conditions in this facility, and the lack of due process, brought matters to a head. Governor Sherrill visited Delaney Hall and was turned away. Since, she has demanded that State health officials be given access to ensure that the detainees are provided with adequate healthcare. To date, that demand has gone unanswered by the Trump administration and ICE. That is precisely why peaceful protests are necessary, so that the inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall are not lost sight of.

“I want to condemn ICE’s escalation at Delaney Hall. Prior to their arrival, residents had been able to protest peacefully without violence. The use of riot gear, flash bangs, tear gas, and similar tactics against lawfully assembled protesters is wrong and clearly untenable. It is also imperative that this behavior not be replicated by state or local police.

“We have protests in our city frequently, and we condemn the use of these tactics, as they erode community trust and partnership. At Delaney, we have been able to witness firsthand, how these practices have turned peaceful gatherings into violent chaos broadcast across national television.

“Conversely, it is also important to note that burning tires in the street, throwing bottles or bricks, and bringing weapons to protests have made this situation more dangerous, especially for fellow protesters and detracts from their original premise. These protests have now become focused on ICE itself rather than on the detainees, their inhumane treatment, the violation of the U.S. Constitution, and Trump’s racist and xenophobic policies and tactics.

“Our collective responsibility must always be to apply pressure and highlight the inherent barbarism of these ideas and the lack of humanity in their tactics. However, our attempts to protect our residents from harm have been so grossly mischaracterized that we have been accused of protecting ICE and upholding these backward ideas. That is offensive for several reasons. In Newark, it will always be our job to restore order, disrupt violence, and protect the people of our city and we must do so whether we agree with their actions or not.”

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

NEWARK ADVOCATES CALL FOR ‘DIGNITY AND BASIC RIGHTS’

Several Newark-based social justice groups have been issuing statements about the chaos at Delaney Hall over the past week.

The New Jersey Communities for Accountable Policing (NJCAP) – a statewide coalition for accountable policing initiated by the ACLU of New Jersey – alleged that last weekend’s arrests were a “consequence of the violence of ICE agents and most especially by the New Jersey State Police.”

Dozens of people were arrested, the group said, accusing police of using “excessive force.”

“An order to disperse, which would involve the breakdown of tables and mutual aid supplies in only 15 minutes was turned into a full frontal attack that saw troopers in full riot gear, shooting rubber bullets, spraying tear gas, whipping and beating people on horseback in way that harkened back to eras of where we have seen and felt the worse expressions of police abuse and police force used to put down protests from the civil rights movement, to the antiwar movement and to the labor movement,” the NJCAP stated.

Zayid Muhammad, a lead member of the group, said he personally knows two experienced demonstrators – one a faith organizer and the other a BLM organizer – who were harmed by projectiles fired upon the protestors.

“De-escalation involves peaceful engagement, dialogue and negotiation,” Muhammad said. “None of that happened.”

The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice also issued a statement about the Delaney Hall protests:

“The situation at Delaney Hall is abhorrent. But it has been abhorrent since the day the federal government opened it to warehouse, abuse and deny due process to our immigrant neighbors. Now that same administration is using the inevitable outrage as justification for amping up their aggression against protestors and against the detainees whose welfare must be at the heart of this matter. For its part, New Jersey – including law enforcement if it is present – must stand up against ICE and protect the rights of peaceful protestors. New Jersey's local and state police should not emulate the horrific tactics of ICE. And the state must waste no time to take whatever action is at its disposal to improve conditions at the facility and find a way to finally shut down this stain on our state and our nation. We stand with our partners who are working day and night to try to make this happen, and with our detained neighbors and their families whose suffering continues to mount with each passing day.”

Another local nonprofit, the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC), made a plea to protect the dignity of the detainees inside the prison.

Spokespeople said:

“The Ironbound Community Corporation refuses to accept a reality in which human beings are hidden behind locked doors, cut off from their families, and denied basic dignity in our own city. The reports coming out of Delaney Hall are alarming and demand immediate action. Accounts of inadequate medical care, insufficient food, poor living conditions, and barriers to communication with loved ones point to a system that prioritizes detention over humanity. Regardless of how someone arrived in this country or where they were born, no person should be subjected to conditions that strip away their dignity and basic rights. What is happening at Delaney Hall is not occurring in isolation. It is part of a broader climate of fear that has left immigrant families across Newark – and across the country – wondering whether they can safely go to work, take their children to school, seek medical care, or participate in the life of their community. The consequences extend far beyond the walls of any detention facility. Every detention, every family separation, and every act of intimidation sends shockwaves through neighborhoods that have helped build this city for generations.”

“The people detained at Delaney Hall are not strangers to us,” Ironbound Community Corporation CEO Hazel Applewhite said.

“They are members of families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities – whether having been living in Newark or transported here,” Applewhite said. “Their treatment is a reflection of our collective values as a society. When dignity is denied to any member of our community, all of us have a responsibility to speak out.”

In the below video, the City of Newark holds a press conference outside Delaney Hall on June 2, 2026

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