Anti-ICE Protesters Again Clash With Authorities at New Jersey Facility

An ongoing protest outside a New Jersey Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility again turned violent as activists clashed with federal authorities Wednesday.

Protesters surrounded the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, N.J, late Wednesday night and Thursday morning as agents deployed pepper spray and batons.

Members of the crowd, many of whom were wearing masks and Keffiyehs, shouted at the officers.

Some could be heard shouting, “Grab your guns and kill yourself,” and “every cop, every fed, shoot yourself in the head.”

NOW: "Grab your gun and kill yourself!" Protesters chant at ICE Agents shortly before agents push back on protesters to clear road for car, hitting with batons and making an arrest pic.twitter.com/laooVrQp8x

— Oliya Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) May 28, 2026

The crowd blocked the entrance of the Newark facility and prevented a garbage truck driver from moving. The irate driver yelled at the protesters, the New York Post reported.

“If I hit one of y’all, I go to jail,” he yelled in a video captured by Freedom News. “What’s wrong with ya’ll?”

NOW: "What's wrong with ya all??" Truck driver goes off on Anti-ICE Protesters as few block entire road of trucks from moving outside Delaney Hall Detention Center. Other protesters attempted to stop those blocking – These are working class people! " pic.twitter.com/Bp6arX8b0C

— Oliya Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) May 28, 2026

Thursday marks a week of protests at Delaney Hall, with prominent New Jersey politicians including Democrat Gov. Mikie Sherrill joining protesters and demanding access to the detention facility on Memorial Day. Her request was denied.

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., also appeared at the protest on Monday. Kim could later be seen dealing with the effects of pepper spray.

In an interview Tuesday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Kim described an “irritation and burning sensation in my eyes and my throat” from the incident.

Attorneys for hundreds of detainees have said they are on a hunger strike in protest of inhumane conditions at the facility. However, the Department of Homeland Security denies that a hunger strike is taking place and has said the detainees have not been treated poorly.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Wednesday that the Democrat criticism of the facility is misguided.

“It shows the radical left Democrats’ priorities when they decide to go out and protest a detention center where we’re housing rapists, child predators, murderers, drug dealers, and they choose Memorial Day of all the time to go protest something,” Mullin said during a Wednesday Cabinet meeting at the White House. “Then you have one of the senators complain because he got splattered with a, you know, pepper ball. I’m sorry. You probably shouldn’t have been there.”

President Donald Trump has also weighed in on the protests. “We have some horrible killers. We have killers, we have guys that murdered numerous people in there. And these are the people they’re trying to protect,” Trump said according to ABC News.

Democrat House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said in response that “the majority of detainees at the facility have no criminal record.”