New Jersey State Police took over policing of the streets around the Delaney Hall immigration detention centre in Newark after consecutive nights of confrontation between demonstrators and federal agents, as a mandatory overnight curfew imposed by the city held for a second night. The standoff has become one of the most visible flashpoints in the country over immigration enforcement.
The unrest has built around a hunger strike by detainees inside the privately run, roughly 1,000-bed facility, where about 300 people are held. The protest, now into its second week, was prompted by complaints about conditions, and Democratic members of Congress who visited reported small and sometimes spoiled food portions and unmet medical needs.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka ordered a curfew closing the area within roughly half a mile of Delaney Hall from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., citing public-safety concerns after demonstrators tried to block vehicles entering and leaving the site. Police made arrests on successive nights as some protesters defied the order, and tear gas was used to clear the street.
Governor Mikie Sherrill said she had dispatched state police to bring order to the area, taking responsibility for the perimeter from federal immigration agents. A senior state police officer, Lt. Col. David Sierotowicz, said ICE officers had agreed to stand down while troopers assumed control outside the facility, an unusual division of authority between state and federal forces.
The crowds outside have drawn both supporters of the detainees and a smaller number of counter-demonstrators, and the clashes have produced criminal charges, including against a man accused of biting federal officers. The mix of a hunger strike inside and volatile protests outside has kept the facility in a state of tension for days.
Delaney Hall has become a symbol of the wider fight over stepped-up immigration enforcement, drawing national political attention and turning a single New Jersey detention centre into a test of how far local and state officials will go to assert control over federal operations on their soil.