A new city curfew outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark enters a second night on Monday, amid continuing questions about arrests and compliance by protesters and others who have swarmed the area in recent weeks.
State police arrested dozens of people overnight for allegedly violating the new city curfew outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
Anti-ICE activists say there were 46 arrests on Sunday, which would make it the most for any night since protests began on May 22. Their total matches the arrests as tallied by one streamer on the ground.
New Jersey authorities, asked repeatedly for arrest totals, had not yet provided an official count to Gothamist by Monday afternoon.
The recent crackdown on protesters was led by the state police, which Gov. Mikie Sherrill put in charge of crowd control on Friday after days of intense clashes between demonstrators and ICE agents.
Sherrill said at the time her goal was to lower the temperature at the scene. But aggressive actions by the state police against protestors have drawn sharp criticism from advocacy groups and praise from the Trump administration.
The official DHS account on X has been cheerleading the actions of state police in the days since the switch. At least seven posts to the account since the arrests started Sunday night praised the curfew crackdown.
Among those arrested Sunday night arrests appear to be two journalists, according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The group is raising alarms about the treatment of journalists by authorities amid the protests.
The foundation said it is investigating the Sunday arrests as well as roughly 30 assaults on journalists, three instances of damaged equipment and at least one search and seizure of a journalist’s equipment – all reported since May 26, and involving both ICE and the New Jersey State Police.
“ Democracy does not function without an informed public, and an informed public does not function without a free press,” said Adam Rose, the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s deputy director of advocacy. “ It is chilling in every sense of the word when you see people live on national television being chased down the street to a place where they don't have sight or sound access.”
Sharon Lauchaire, a spokesperson for the New Jersey attorney general’s office, told Gothamist Monday morning authorities were still working to determine the total number of people arrested.
Anthony Puglisi, a spokesperson for Essex County, said the arrested people were still being processed at the Essex County Correctional Facility as of Monday afternoon. He also was unable to give a total number of people arrested.
Sunday was the first full night for a new curfew set by Newark city officials. The curfew applies to the area within a half-mile radius of Delaney Hall in the heart of Brick City’s industrial section, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Demonstrators gathered peacefully throughout the day outside of police checkpoints at Wilson Avenue and Roanoke Avenue, which is the closest they could get to the detention center.
Police began issuing dispersal warnings in English and Spanish at 8:15 p.m., according to a statement from New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport issued late Sunday. She said a group of people “armed with helmets, shields, or gas masks” ignored the order and were arrested.
“Their actions put the public at risk, and I am grateful to law enforcement for de-escalating the situation," Davenport said.
Videos posted to social media show police late Sunday encircling a group of protesters near the intersection of Doremus Avenue and Wilson Avenue, trapping the group against the large concrete perimeter wall of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission’s treatment plant.
The videos also show people arrested were placed on an Essex County Sheriff’s Office bus and taken from the scene. It appeared some of them were journalists.
Law enforcement has taken aggressive action against journalists outside Delaney Hall in prior days as well. Ali Velshi of MS NOW was attempting to report from outside of Delaney Hall on Saturday night when he was moved away from the scene by state police on live TV. A WNBC reporter and photographer were forced from their broadcast van outside the facility by state police on Friday night.
The attorney general’s office did not respond to questions about journalists being arrested, assaulted or otherwise mistreated by state police.
An unnamed DHS spokesperson said in a statement that ICE agents take precautions to avoid harming media members, but added that covering “unlawful activities” comes with risk.
Protests calling for better conditions inside Delaney Hall – and for the facility’s ultimate closure – have been regularly happening since it reopened last year. Detainees in multiple open letters and through communications with families and members of Congress have said there is inadequate medical care, poor quality food and harsh living conditions inside.
DHS and GEO Group, which is the Florida-based private company operating Delaney Hall, have both repeatedly denied claims that detainees are mistreated at the facility.
Tensions surged at the start of the Memorial Day weekend, as protesters began attempting to block vehicles from leaving Delaney Hall out of concern that ICE was transferring detainees away in retaliation for organizing a hunger and labor strike in the facility.
DHS has denied that a hunger strike ever existed, and has denied taking any retaliatory measures against detainees attempting to raise public awareness of conditions inside Delaney Hall.
This story has been updated with new information.
