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DHS Torches Blue State Governor’s Claim Of ICE Facility Victory

4 mins read
Gov. Mikie Sherrill
Photo Credit: https://www.nj.gov/governor/https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/presskits/, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mikie Sherrill claimed a win at Newark’s Delaney Hall, but DHS said she was taking credit for calm that only came after riots were brought under control.

After the New Jersey governor posted that family visitation was being restored for the 1,000 or so migrants held at the Newark detention center, the department said she was taking credit for something that only became possible once the violence outside the facility had been brought under control.

“DHS has met our demands to restore family visitation,” Sherrill posted. “Starting today, limited visitation will resume at noon and regular visitation hours will be restored beginning tomorrow.”

She followed that by telling protesters to cool things down. “Lower the temperature and protest peacefully so we can continue making progress for families and detainees while avoiding any ICE escalation that would only create more fear and uncertainty in our communities,” Sherrill tweeted.

DHS answered with a flat rejection. “We did not cave to the governor’s demands,” a spokesperson commented.

The department said visitation had been paused because the unrest outside Delaney Hall had made it unsafe for the relatives and others to get in and out.

“Visitation was suspended because the violent riots outside the facility made it unsafe for our officers, detainees’ families and lawyers to visit the facility,” the spokesperson noted. “With Delaney Hall secure, ICE operations continue as normal.”

The same spokesperson drove the point home again after the perimeter was locked down.

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“To be clear: Visitation was only suspended because of violent riots. Now that we have a secure perimeter, visitation can resume.”

That fight over who deserved credit came after Delaney Hall had already turned into a political and street-level flashpoint.

The privately run ICE facility became the focal point of anti-ICE protests after reports that as many as 300 detainees had gone on hunger strike over allegedly poor conditions.

Then, on Memorial Day, Sherrill joined Sen. Andy Kim and Rep. Rob Menendez in trying to get inside the facility.

They said they were there for a routine inspection. They were denied entry, and the confrontation helped spark demonstrations, which spiraled into violence.

The unrest turned physical, with demonstrators clashing with federal agents and throwing rocks. During Thursday night’s chaos, a protester bit three officers, and a cinder block smashed the windshield of an ICE patrol vehicle.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin used the violence to issue a warning of his own.

“The Trump Administration will ALWAYS stand with our federal law enforcement officers,” Mullin wrote on X alongside photos showing the officers’ injuries.

“Anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The violence intensified as protesters refused a New Jersey State Police order to move into a nearby “First Amendment zone” on Friday night.

Police and protesters collided instead. Later, troopers moved in with noise bombs, tear gas grenades, pepper spray and shields, while authorities said demonstrators swung barriers that had been set up earlier that day.

Sherrill got involved on Saturday by saying the situation had become too dangerous to leave unchecked and that the state had to step in before things got worse.

“My top priority is keeping New Jerseyans and our communities safe – and an increased ICE surge in the area outside of Delaney Hall is a threat to public safety,” she posted on X Saturday morning.

“We know that lives would be at risk were that to happen. And I will not accept that risk.”

“This was absolutely necessary to protect public safety, and avoid escalation from ICE,” she added.

Later that day, she announced designated protest zones and checkpoints outside the detention center.

“[W]e need to take this opportunity to lower the temperature,” Sherrill continued.

“It has grown unsafe, and that’s completely unacceptable,” she added.

She also argued that people from outside New Jersey were helping fuel the chaos.

“Five of the six people arrested last night by state police were from outside New Jersey, and some national extremist groups have become involved in the protest here today,” Sherrill said during a Saturday press conference.

Sherrill then aimed a direct message at out-of-state agitators. “To the people coming from out of state to create chaos and dangerous situations: you should not be here,” she remarked. “You are not helping the people detained at Delaney Hall.”

More arrests followed Saturday night, including one person accused of unlawfully possessing a weapon.

On Sunday afternoon, roughly 100 anti-ICE demonstrators remained behind barricades and checkpoints, and DHS said the tighter perimeter was why visitation could restart.

DHS also said officers at Delaney Hall had faced threats and attacks during what the agency described as a “coordinated campaign of violence against our ICE law enforcement.”

The Democrats who got inside on Sunday focused instead on what they said was happening to detainees inside the facility.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries visited Delaney Hall with New Jersey Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Josh Gottheimer.

Afterward, the four Democrats said the conditions they saw and what they heard from detainees were intolerable.

“The conditions of confinement we witnessed firsthand and discussed with approximately two dozen detainees at Delaney Hall detention center shock the conscience,” they said in a joint statement.

“Immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, just and humane,” the statement continued. “The Trump administration is doing the exact opposite.”

Kim also pushed for the focus to stay on detainees and their families rather than the perimeter battle outside.

“Delaney Hall has caused so much chaos and frustration,” Kim wrote on X.

“People in my state don’t want to see these abuses in our backyard and on our dime.”

“The detainees and their families need to be our North Star,” he added. “We will fight to secure dignity for them because that’s who are in America.”

Menendez, meanwhile, said he had spent a day and a half trying to help one illegal migrant, Martin Soto, only to be told the man had already been moved.

“I went in about eight o’clock. At 10 o’clock after constant communication, ICE said they were not going to let me in, and I told them that’s a problem because I’m not leaving,” Menendez explained in an interview with MS NOW.

“So, I stayed there overnight. Eventually, the next morning, at 11:30, me and a couple other colleagues were allowed in,” he detailed.

The first thing that ICE says to me, after having been there for fifteen hours, ‘Martin Soto’s not here.’ They moved him at two a.m. in the morning.”

Clark Kelley

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