New Jersey governor demands access to ICE facility as hunger strike widens.
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
By WINNIE HU and NATE SCHWEBER
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat who has clashed with the Trump administration over immigration policies, joined protests outside a detention center in Newark earlier this week in support of detainees participating in a hunger strike.
Sherrill heard from family members of detainees, who have complained about rotten and spoiled food and inadequate medical care at Delaney Hall. Dozens of protesters waved signs, banged on drums, and chanted “Free Them All!” The governor told the crowd she had requested access but was denied.
“No matter what your immigration status is, you shouldn’t be treated with anything less than dignity in this country,” said Sherrill on the Memorial Day holiday. At one point, she rested her hand on the shoulder of a crying relative and smoothed the hair of an upset child.
After the governor left, the scene quickly worsened outside the detention facility. A tense standoff erupted between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and protesters who blocked an entrance; the agents responded by firing pepper balls and spray at the protesters. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., who was trying to deescalate the situation, was among those affected.
As President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have spurred protests nationwide, Sherrill has repeatedly clashed with his administration. In April, the Trump administration sued Sherrill and New Jersey’s attorney general over a state law that bars law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, from wearing masks while on duty.
It was at least the second time the Trump administration had sued to overturn immigration policies enacted by Sherrill.
Federal judges in New Jersey have repeatedly criticized the Trump administration for failing to comply with immigration-related court orders, including directives barring migrants from being transferred out of state.
The 1,000-bed detention center, which is privately run, has emerged as a focal point in Trump’s immigration crackdown since it reopened last year. It has filled with hundreds of immigrants detained in New York City and around the Northeast as agents have ramped up the arrests of migrants in homes, courthouses and federal offices.
On Monday, the governor and other officials, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, appeared outside Delaney Hall amid growing concerns over the hunger strike, which started Friday inside the cinder-block building enclosed by a high chain-link fence topped with razor wire.
Immigration advocates have rallied outside Delaney Hall since Friday. Detainees said they would go on a hunger and labor strike while calling for an investigation of the detention center and its operations and for Sherrill to visit to discuss protections from ICE. Hundreds of detainees were participating, one protester told Sherrill.
The governor said in a statement on Sunday that she had contacted ICE to gain access to the detention center and was working to monitor the situation and “do what’s necessary to ensure humane conditions.”
At Monday’s protest, some demonstrators shouted in Sherrill’s face to criticize her for not showing up earlier in the weekend, like other elected officials had.
Rep. Rob Menendez, D-N.J., had arrived at 8 p.m. on Sunday and stayed all night until he was allowed into the center on Monday morning. Menendez said that he had spoken to some of the detainees inside Delaney Hall, including a young woman who just wanted to go to her high school graduation, a pregnant woman who was trying to get medical care, and a man who showed him a carton of milk that had gone rancid.
“I heard just desperation from so many people in there,” Menendez said afterward.
Angela Martinez told Sherrill that her cousin, Bolivar Bueno, 65, has diabetes and that she hasn’t been able to speak to him to make sure he is getting medication. “We don’t know what’s going on,” she told the governor.
Afterward, Martinez said, “I want for her to help me out.”
Sherrill left after about an hour, around 11:30 a.m., as some demonstrators jeered at her. Her security had to clear the road of a couple of people who tried to stop her SUV from leaving.
A few hours later, a convoy of ICE vehicles approached another entrance on the south side of Delaney Hall. Protesters, who had rallied at the north entrance in the morning, ran over to sit down in front of the vehicles. Many said they feared that the detainees on hunger strike inside would be transferred to other facilities.
ICE agents — most of whom were wearing face masks — pushed and shoved the protesters out of the way, dragging one young man by a kaffiyeh around his neck. As the protesters chanted, “Trump Has To Go,” they linked arms and faced the ICE agents.
The standoff prevented anyone from leaving through the south entrance. Soon after, a military-style vehicle moved toward that entrance, with a man on top holding a firearm pointed at demonstrators.
Kim, who had been allowed inside Delaney Hall, came out during the confrontation and walked over to support the protesters. Soon afterward, the ICE agents and military vehicles backed away from the entrance and slightly retreated toward to the detention center, but the standoff continued.
“They provoked it, they brought that tank over,” Kim said. “It’s getting worse and worse here.”
The senator said he was working to “deescalate” the standoff through negotiations with federal officials and would push for families to be allowed to visit detainees as early as Tuesday. “I’m going to keep at it,” he said.
Not long after, the standoff escalated with ICE agents using pepper balls and mace on the crowd.
It’s not the first time Delaney Hall has faced protests. In June 2025, four men escaped from the detention center after days of unrest over meager and sporadic meals and overcrowding that forced some detainees to sleep on the floor. Detainees had smashed windows, doors and security cameras.
And Baraka, the Newark mayor, was arrested in May 2025 during a clash with federal agents outside its gates last year.
Comments