Overview
- Protests outside the 1,000‑bed Delaney Hall have continued for weeks and turned violent this past weekend, with more than 80 arrests since late May and ICE reporting multiple arrests on June 5 for assault, obstruction and threats.
- Detainees and advocates say a coordinated hunger and labor strike began in late May to protest moldy or expired food, maggots, overcrowding and denied medication, while DHS and ICE say no hunger strike is underway and have defended the facility's care.
- The White House sent border czar Tom Homan to Newark for on‑the‑ground talks; Homan made an unannounced tour of Delaney Hall, publicly ate the cafeteria meal and accused out‑of‑state 'paid' agitators of driving much of the violence.
- New Jersey officials have moved to intervene: Gov. Mikie Sherrill called in state police to secure protest zones, Mayor Ras Baraka scaled back city police at the site, and the state attorney general sued GEO Group alleging inspectors were denied full access.
- The standoff has produced visible human costs and accountability questions, including injuries to journalists, a photographer hit by a security vehicle, disputed eyewitness accounts of food and medical care, and a wider debate over private contractor oversight.