Tensions rise as protesters block vehicles at Delaney Hall, with tear gas deployed and cars damaged
Protesters blocked the entrance to a secure lot at Delaney Hall on Friday afternoon, sitting on car hoods, yelling at drivers and kicking vehicles. At least one windshield was broken and several protesters were tear-gassed.
On a hot, sticky day outside the immigrant detetion center in Newark, protesters waved anti-ICE posters as traffic passed by. It wasn’t until around 3:30 p.m. when the demonstration became violent.
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Nearly a dozen protesters formed a line at the northern exit to the facility, blocking cars as they were attempting to leave the immigration detention center.
“Isn’t it nice you get to go home,” one protester yelled.
One of the protesters yelled at a driver, “You’re Spanish. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
As a woman with children in her car left, protesters stepped back to let her pass. “We’re with you,” one shouted as she drove off.
Staff at the detention center, run by the GEO Group, redirected vehicles to come back inside the gated and fenced lot, but some drivers decided to inch through the crowd, knocking some people over. One staff member from Delaney Hall Corrections Emergency Response Team pepper sprayed protesters blocking the vehicles.
As a silver sedan left the facility, a physical altercation between protesters and Delaney Hall security staff occurred after a protester, who held onto the driver’s side mirror and door handle, was pulled to the ground by security. The altercation was quickly broken up. The same protester had ended up on the hood of another vehicle, holding onto the windshield wipers before falling off the vehicle.
The protester, identified as a 28-year-old resident of Seattle, Washington, was arrested by the Newark Police Department and charged with three counts of criminal mischief after police said he smashed the windows of at least one car.
Another protester, an Arizona resident, was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations for allegedly assaulting an ICE officer on Friday, police said.
Minutes before the damage was done to the cars trying to leave Delaney Hall, an ambulance and supervisor’s vehicle from University Hospital in Newark were escorted into the parking area.
Just past 6 p.m., several protesters dumped large sand-filled barrels meant to serve as traffic barriers, blocking the exit with piles of sand and the barrels.
The escalation came just a day after protesters slashed the tires of an ICE vehicle at Delaney Hall.
Protests at the ICE facility have been ongoing for about two weeks. They started over Memorial Day weekend following allegations of hunger and abuse at the privately-owned detention facility."
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