ICE officers confronted protesters outside the Delaney Hall facility in Newark, New Jersey on Wednesday night, striking them with batons and pepper spray and making arrests to push them back from the entrance.
One agent kicked a protester’s shield, sending him into a moving truck before making an arrest.
A second protester appeared to retreat beneath the truck itself amidst the fighting.
ICE agents (many of them labelled ERO: “Enforcement and Removal Operations”) pressed into the crowd to dismantle makeshift barricades made of items like trash cans and wooden pallets used to blockade the driveway.
They pointed tasers at the protesters amidst the struggle.
The ICE agents often used strobe lights while pressing into the crowd and making arrests, while the protesters attempted to stay together by linking arms.
“Get back!” agents yelled as they used batons and pepper spray to repel the crowd and make room for vehicles to enter and exit the facility.
ICE agents made a handful of apparently targeted arrests, walking or carrying protesters into the Delaney Hall facility.
“Don’t fight it!” demanded an ICE agent as he whacked a protester with his baton, guarding the entrance to the facility as a vehicle entered.
“I said, don’t fight it!”
Thursday night
Protesters gathered again Thursday into the evening outside Delaney Hall in an attempt to blockade ICE vehicles entering and exiting as a hunger strike reportedly takes place inside.
Flurries of conflict and arrests occurred as vehicles went in and out.
As the sun set in Newark, ICE agents pushed into protesters attempting to use shields and umbrellas to block the way, making arrests and deploying mace.
In one unique gambit, the federal agents claimed EMS vehicles were exiting when in fact, two EMS vehicles led a train of other law enforcement vehicles.
Some attempted to block the additional cars, one threw a rock, and another was seriously maced and called for help.
Some protesters placed themselves directly in the path of moving cars, slowing them to a stop until additional agents arrived to force them out of the way.
Agents pressed forward as protesters continued to form blockades, deploying mace and activating tasers, pointing them at the crowd around them.
