An overnight curfew has been imposed around Delaney Hall, an immigration detention centre in Newark, New Jersey, after days of violent clashes between protesters, law enforcement, and counter-demonstrators outside the facility. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka announced the measure on Sunday morning, restricting movement within half a mile (0.8 kilometres) of the centre between 9pm and 6am local time until further notice. The nearby Doremus Avenue has also been closed to pedestrians and vehicles unable to verify a reason to be in the area. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, who has deployed state police to the site, said three people were arrested on Saturday night after a group of protesters attacked officers and a security barrier, adding to six arrests made the previous night.
Delaney Hall, which is operated by private contractor GEO Group under a 15-year deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has been a recurring flashpoint since it reopened as an immigration detention facility last year. Tensions intensified sharply after detainees announced a hunger and labour strike on 22 May, with between 300 and 400 participants demanding improved living conditions, access to medical care, and the right to have their immigration cases proceed. Lawyers for the detainees reported expired food and alleged abuse, claims that drew crowds of protesters to the facility in solidarity. In response, officers used batons, pepper spray, teargas, and stun guns to clear roads to the site. The demonstrations drew national attention after ICE officers pepper-sprayed US Senator Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, during a confrontation at the facility earlier in the week.
Sunday also brought partial relief for families of those detained: Governor Sherrill confirmed that family visitation had been restored to at least two of the facility's units, though families reported confusion over who exactly would be granted access. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents the neighbouring state of New York, conducted an oversight visit on Sunday and said the conditions he witnessed "shock the conscience." Sherrill herself was denied entry to the facility earlier in the week and has since called for Delaney Hall to be shut down.
The situation has exposed tensions not only between protesters and federal immigration authorities, but also within the law enforcement response itself. Advocacy groups criticised Sherrill, a Democrat, after state police officers in riot gear used teargas and made mass arrests on Friday night — tactics some said were harsher than those previously employed by ICE. Sherrill, in turn, blamed "national extremist groups" from outside the state for inflaming the situation, and urged protesters to "bring the temperature down" to keep the focus on detainees and their families.
Delaney Hall sits at the centre of a broader national debate over the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, which officials have framed as targeting "the worst of the worst" among undocumented immigrants. Critics dispute that characterisation: data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University found that, as of April, roughly 71 percent of people held in ICE detention had no criminal conviction. For many protesters, the facility has become a symbol of what they see as an unjust and indiscriminate crackdown — and New Jersey's elected officials appear caught between federal pressure and growing public opposition.