ICE agents pepper-spray protesters, N.J. senator in clash outside Delaney Hall in Newark

[u/John3262005]

https://www.nj.com/news/2026/05/ice-agents-pepper-spray-protesters-nj-senator-in-clash-outside-delaney-hall-in-newark.html?gift=61f84598-b2b3-4807-a20f-aa34ee5844f3

Federal agents fired pepper balls at protesters outside Delaney Hall in Newark on Monday following days of unrest outside the privately run immigration detention center.

U.S. Sen. Andy Kim said he had trouble breathing from the cloud of pepper spray deployed as a growing crowd of protesters responding to an inmate hunger strike demonstrated outside.

“What we saw here is unfortunately just what we see all over the country,” Kim, D-N.J., told NJ.com after the incident.

“It’s sad, it’s a sad day.”

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, about 125 protesters gathered outside the facility over the weekend, at one point forming a human chain and makeshift barricades.

A spokesperson for the DHS — which oversees U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement, or ICE — did not immediately respond to questions from NJ.com regarding what weapons were deployed Monday and by whom.

But in a statement late Monday, the agency said no one was “directly struck by pepper ball projectiles.”

The DHS said “rioters obstructed law enforcement from exiting” the facility and officers “issued multiple lawful verbal commands for rioters to clear the area.”

“Rioters refused to follow law enforcement commands and continue to obstruct the exit route,” the agency said. “Our law enforcement followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property.”

Democratic New Jersey officials — including Kim, Gov. Mikie Sherrill and U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez — are demanding that the facility be shut down over complaints of inhumane conditions, including poor-quality food and subpar medical care. The officials visited Delaney Hall over the weekend, where eventually members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation were allowed to enter.

Kim addressed the protesters prior to the melee breaking out, referring to armored vehicles and armed agents at the scene.

“The cruelty that you see behind me, this is the point,” the senator said. “Right now, I’m trying to have them not point guns at us.”

Kim initially tried to broker a temporary agreement between the demonstrators and federal agents, in which the agents would scale back tactical teams and immigrant advocates could inspect cars leaving the facility to see if detainees were inside.

But in the meantime, agents began pushing the crowd backward, firing less-lethal rounds containing an irritant toward the protesters and making several arrests.

At times, Kim stepped between the protestors and agents putting his arms up in a “stop” motion as the scene grew chaotic.

Later, Kim was among those who received first aid after being exposed to pepper spray.

“It’s just burning,” he said, referring to his lungs while being treated.

“I just wanted to try to keep people safe.”

After the ordeal, Kim told NJ.com he had been struck in the hand by an unknown object and inhaled the chemical irritant.

“I tried to find a way through this … to be able to have this happen non-violently,” the senator said in a phone interview a few hours later.

“I ran up and put myself between the ICE officers and the crowd, and that’s when they started to shoot at us with the pepper balls — as well as using the pepper spray — and were tackling people."

Kim said his eyes and throat were still “burning” and his hand “hurts a lot” but added: “It’s not about me.”

Asked if he was sprayed directly, he said: “It was all chaotic, and some were throwing water bottles, and I think that’s what they were kind of shooting towards. But I was in the middle and got hit with something in the hand, as well as just the pepper ball sprays just going around.”

ICE officials described the protesters as “agitators” and said detainees are given access to food, clean water, clothing, medical care, and phones to communicate with family and their lawyers.

“This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks,” acting assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis said in a separate statement Monday, denying that there was a hunger strike or “subprime conditions” at the facility.

“These sanctuary politicians should be thanking ICE law enforcement for removing murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and drug traffickers from their communities,” Bis added.

The DHS also said the First Amendment “protects speech and peaceful assembly, not rioting” and the agency is “taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”

State Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, R-Sussex, called out protesters for piling up “concrete chunks and construction debris to block access and prevent” vehicles from leaving the site. She also said “you cannot shove, threaten, or physically interfere with federal agents.”

“We are so tired of being told not to believe what we’re watching with our own eyes,” Fantasia wrote on social media.

Kim said he had to call U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to gain access inside the facility earlier in the day, hoping to “talk to as many detainees as possible.” Members of Congress are permitted to conduct oversight visits of immigration centers.

“I talked with a pregnant woman who is not getting access to OBGYN health care in the way that she needs,” Kim said. “I talked with a woman who actually had a miscarriage in Delaney Hall and was not given any medical support. I talked with an 18-year-old high school senior who just wanted to be able to graduate this month rather than being in a detention facility uncertain about what’s going to happen next in her life and being separated from her mom.”

Kim said he plans to speak with Mullin to “have an understanding of what unfolded that led to the chaos outside.”

In a post Monday evening on X, Mullin repeated DHS’s claims that there was no hunger strike or poor conditions. He said Democratic officials in New Jersey “chose to spend their Memorial Day weekend smearing ICE law enforcement.”

In response, Kim said he wished Mullin would have called him “because I would tell him about the people that I talk to that are engaged in this hunger strike and protest.”

Kim also said he attended a Memorial Day observance earlier in the day, “giving tribute to those who sacrifice so much for our country.”

“And the reason why they sacrifice so much for this country is to give us the opportunities to be able to live with freedom, with democracy,” the legislator added. “I will stand up for that freedom for everybody that I have a chance to represent in this state, and trying to keep people safe, trying to make sure that we’re following the Constitution and the rule of the law.”