Violence Erupts at New Jersey ICE Facility Protest Zone
A protest zone outside a Newark immigration detention center erupted in violence as demonstrators threatened ICE agents and clashed with police who deployed tear gas.
Protesters defied orders to disperse as the volatile crowd confronted law enforcement, according to Breitbart News. Officers ultimately resorted to deploying tear gas and pepper spray to restore order outside the facility.
The unruly demonstrators chanted hostile slogans at ICE agents, including calls for them to quit their jobs and die, while also shouting obscenities and labeling the federal officers as murderers, coverage from the New York Post revealed.
As Breitbart News reports, Thursday night’s demonstration featured threats not only against the agents themselves but also against their families. Some protesters were heard shouting direct death threats, including warnings that they had identified individual officers and would kill their relatives.
On Friday, ICE agents moved directly into the crowds to detain several violent agitators who were inciting the mob.
New Jersey state police on horseback—deployed as part of Governor Sherrill’s response to days of disorder—attempted to push the crowd back from the Newark detention center. Officers in full riot gear advanced in formation while deploying tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Governor Sherrill announced Friday that state law enforcement would create a designated protest zone outside the detention facility, while simultaneously placing blame on ICE for the weeklong unrest.
We all need to do everything we can to cool things down now, she stated during a news conference.
Sherrill insisted she would not provide ICE with justification to expand operations in New Jersey. For that reason, she said, state law enforcement was establishing what she termed a peaceful, protected protest area near Delaney Hall.
The governor deployed state police to the facility Friday night after Newark police officers claimed she had prevented them from assisting federal agents. Captain John Chrystal, president of the Newark Police Superior Officers’ Association, told the Post that his department had been handcuffed by the governor and ordered to stand down.
The New York Times reported early Saturday that federal agents had agreed to withdraw from crowd control in the parking lot outside the detention center, allowing state police to assume responsibility for maintaining order.
According to the Times, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin characterized the decision as a victory for his agency, noting that Governor Sherrill had previously refused to permit state police to assist ICE agents. Mullin described the development as a win for law and order and thanked the governor.
The confrontations at the ICE detention center mirror violent anti-ICE clashes that occurred in Minnesota earlier this year.
The Newark protests erupted over Memorial Day weekend after detainees alleged they were being held in inhumane conditions, citing overcrowding and poor-quality food.
The Department of Homeland Security has countered those claims, asserting that the standard of living at Delaney Hall exceeds that of most U.S. prisons.
With information from Breitbart News
