New Jersey says state police will replace federal agents outside ICE facility
Announcement coincides with reports of influx of federal agents to Delaney Hall, site of protests and hunger strike
Top New Jersey officials announced on Friday that the state police will be taking over policing functions from federal immigration officers outside the contentious Delaney Hall facility, as reports surface of an influx of federal agents making their way to the area.
As part of the state police’s takeover of “public safety operations” at the site, they will establish a “peaceful protected zone” for demonstrators and will have protesters “move there today”, according to New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, and attorney general, Jennifer Davenport.
The announcement comes amid days of clashes between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, during which officers have pepper-sprayed, Tased and shoved protesters.
Demonstrators have been outside the detention center protesting in support of detained immigrants inside the facility, who have been engaged in a hunger and labor strike demanding improved conditions. One of the strikers’ demands has been to meet with Sherrill, who has been denied entry to the privately run facility.
Friday was the eighth day of the strike, marking the beginning of a weekend with further clashes and violence likely. A pro-ICE counter-protest is scheduled for Saturday morning at the site.
It is unclear how the state police’s takeover from ICE to address protests will be implemented and how involved federal agents will be.
The governor and attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for clarification from the Guardian, asking if state police would arrest protesters who exit the “protected zone” and whether it violates the state’s “sanctuary” policy, which limits local officials from collaborating with ICE.
A source with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal agency that oversees ICE, told the Guardian on Friday that an influx of agents was arriving to the Delaney Hall facility to “defend” it. Agents from other agencies, including the FBI, are purportedly leaving their current casework and heading to the site.
According to the source, agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) will also be investigating protesters at Delaney for alleged assaults against ICE officials. On Friday, HSI agents were seen guarding the facility. In days prior, officers within another component ICE had been tasked with the facility’s protection, making HSI’s arrival a new development on Friday.
Acting attorney general Todd Blanche announced on Friday afternoon that the justice department was filing charges against a protester who allegedly kicked and bit an ICE officer at the detention center.
“This is a win for law and order,” a DHS spokesperson said in a comment. “After days of Governor Sherrill REFUSING to allow State Police to assist ICE law enforcement against violent anti-ICE rioters, she is now allowing the New Jersey State Police to cooperate with us. Thank you, Governor.”
The FBI declined to comment for this story.
For days, ICE officials have been clashing with protesters outside the facility. Demonstrators are there to support detained immigrants inside the privately run Delaney Hall facility. The detention center, run by the private prison company the GEO Group, was just opened last year and has faced repeated accusations of “inhumane” conditions by detained immigrants, families, advocates and lawmakers.
Last Friday, a group of detained immigrants launched a hunger and labor strike inside the detention center, demanding improved food, medical care and for their immigration cases to proceed. There are now more than 300 people participating in the strike, despite repeated claims by the DHS that there is no hunger strike at the facility.
“We are detained, we are on hunger strike, demanding due process rights and the improvement of conditions,” a man, who participated in the hunger strike, told the Guardian in an interview on Tuesday minutes after his release. “We are not criminals. We are people who enter [the facility] with a clean record. We pay our taxes. [We are] Fathers. Mothers. Spouses of citizens with existing petitions.”
New Jersey also announced on Friday that state officials will also be setting up checkpoints entering the area. The detention center is located in an industrial part of Newark, surrounded by factories and packaging plants. The road in front of the facility is busy with convoys of shipping trucks, which is repeatedly blocked as ICE officers chase protesters away from the facility driveway.
300 people — and that is probably just the official count.
300 people. The real figures are likely much higher.
If announcement coincides with reports of influx of federal agents to Delaney Hall, site of protests and hunger, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
When you look at it is unclear how the state police’s takeover from ICE to address protests will be implemented and how involved federal agents will be, the implications are hard to ignore.
Friday was the eighth day of the strike, marking the beginning of a weekend with further clashes and violence likely. Meanwhile it is unclear how the state police’s takeover from ICE to address protests will be implemented and how involved federal agents will be.
What stands out is announcement coincides with reports of influx of federal agents to Delaney Hall, site of protests and hunger. That is the part worth paying attention to.
On one hand demonstrators have been outside the detention center protesting in support of detained immigrants inside the facility, who have been engaged in a hunger and labor strike demanding improved conditions. But at the same time friday was the eighth day of the strike, marking the beginning of a weekend with further clashes and violence likely.
The fact that the announcement comes amid days of clashes between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, during which officers have pepper-sprayed, Tased and shoved protesters really puts things into perspective.
When you look at friday was the eighth day of the strike, marking the beginning of a weekend with further clashes and violence likely, the implications are hard to ignore.
So the bottom line is it is unclear how the state police’s takeover from ICE to address protests will be implemented and how involved federal agents will be. Wonder how this will land.
The bigger issue here is demonstrators have been outside the detention center protesting in support of detained immigrants inside the facility, who have been engaged in a hunger and labor strike demanding improved conditions. That changes the calculation.
Hard to look at 300 people and not question the official narrative.
Basically it is unclear how the state police’s takeover from ICE to address protests will be implemented and how involved federal agents will be. What matters is whether anything changes because of it.
Reading that friday was the eighth day of the strike, marking the beginning of a weekend with further clashes and violence likely — hard to argue with the logic there.
The bigger issue here is announcement coincides with reports of influx of federal agents to Delaney Hall, site of protests and hunger. That changes the calculation.