A garbage truck driver was filmed angrily confronting anti-ICE protesters who blocked him from doing his job outside Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention centre, as a week of escalating clashes between demonstrators and federal agents showed no sign of abating.
Dramatic footage published by Freedom News TV showed the driver for Elizabeth-based Regional Industries pleading with masked protesters to let him pass. “If I hit one of y’all, I go to jail. What’s wrong with ya all?” he shouted at the crowd before eventually managing to drive away. The driver was one of several civilians caught up in the disorder that has engulfed the 1,000-bed privately run facility in recent days.
Protesters at Delaney Hall — a privately owned facility where inhumane conditions have been alleged for months — blocked unmarked government vehicles and tussled with armed, masked ICE agents, including some who used gas canisters and batons, video from Freedom News TV obtained by CNN shows. Tensions escalated over the holiday weekend as hundreds of detainees went on a labour and hunger strike.
Around 300 immigrants detained at Delaney Hall have been on a hunger and work strike since Friday to protest what they describe as inhumane conditions and due process violations. Delaney Hall is operated by the private prison company GEO Group. Tensions escalated further on Sunday when ICE removed a hunger strike organiser, Martín Soto, prompting protesters outside to block a van being used to transport him, with masked ICE agents responding by firing tear gas.
Wednesday night’s scenes were among the most violent yet, with demonstrators chanting “Every cop every fed shoot yourself in the head” at immigration agents. Protesters used orange traffic cones and cement block barricades in confrontations with agents who wielded batons to push crowds back. Detainees inside could be seen waving from windows as the confrontations unfolded below. Three people have been arrested, according to WABC, with protesters vowing to remain outside the facility until all detainees are released.
On Monday, agents fired rubber bullets at protesters and used pepper spray against them. Democratic US Senator Andy Kim was among those pepper-sprayed at the protests, prompting New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill to renew calls to shut down the facility, describing it as “a failure.” Governor Sherrill had earlier been denied entry to the facility when she joined federal lawmakers outside the gates.
The conditions inside Delaney Hall are the subject of furious dispute between the federal government and Democratic politicians. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin flatly denied there was any ongoing hunger strike, saying detainees were receiving three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding and comprehensive healthcare. Activist Catalina Adorno told WABC that detainees were “given rotten frozen food, or in the case of last week, they found live worms in their food. We’re also hearing of people being denied toilet paper.” Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who visited the facility on Wednesday, said food portions were extremely small and alleged that maggots had been found in meals. He claimed one female detainee with a breast lump had waited a month for a mammogram and that a male inmate with colon cancer was not receiving treatment. Senator Cory Booker said female inmates had described inadequate and potentially dangerous medical care.
Under New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, local police are not permitted to assist ICE agents except when enforcing criminal laws, leaving federal agents to manage the protests without state or municipal police support — a situation President Trump publicly lamented, praising New Jersey officers as “phenomenal” while criticising the restrictions placed on them.
