NEWARK, United States: Protesters clashed with US law enforcement outside an immigration detention centre in New Jersey, a top US official said on Friday, after inmates inside staged a hunger strike over conditions.
Days of unrest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark have led to several arrests as a tough stance by US President Donald Trump´s administration draws stiff opposition.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin posted on X that on Thursday evening, “approximately 100 anti-ICE rioters gathered around the Delaney Hall ICE facility. Rioters bit, kicked, and punched law enforcement officers.” He said nine people were arrested.
Footage from US media outlets showed scuffles between protesters and law enforcement, who used pepper spray.
Delaney Hall is a private, 1,000-bed facility used exclusively by ICE that has operated since 2025 as the Trump administration pressed its campaign to deport millions of illegal immigrants.
New Jersey, on the US East Coast, is a so-called “sanctuary state,” voluntarily limiting its cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The turmoil outside Delaney Hall began after detainees inside launched a hunger and labor strike to protest conditions.
A hand-written Spanish-language letter published this week by Cosecha, a group advocating for undocumented immigrants, and signed by 300 detainees, said that they are “detained without justification,” lack proper medical care and get “poor food.”
