Newark imposes curfew near ICE detention facility after protests

Newark moved to contain the unrest around Delaney Hall with a tightly drawn overnight curfew, as city leaders tried to separate public safety concerns from the right to protest. Mayor Ras Baraka ordered the restriction early Sunday, May 31, covering a half-mile radius around the privately operated ICE detention center on Doremus Avenue and running from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice. In the city’s own statement, Baraka said, “To ensure the safety and well-being of all residents, a mandatory curfew for a half-mile area surrounding Delaney Hall is being implemented, effective immediately.”

The order came after about a week of demonstrations outside the facility, where advocates said roughly 200 detainees were involved in a hunger and work strike. Protest organizers and advocates also said detainees had lost access to video calls and commissary services, and that visitation had been suspended before later being partly restored. Federal officials had confirmed at least two arrests connected to the clashes by late May, underscoring how quickly the dispute had shifted from a protest over detention conditions into a recurring public-order problem.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill backed Baraka’s move and pushed for protected protest zones, a sign that state leaders wanted to avoid a blanket response that could sweep up peaceful demonstrators with people engaging in violence. Sherrill said the decision followed attacks on law enforcement and framed public safety as the line that could not be crossed. The city’s order was narrow in scope: it applied only around Delaney Hall, focused on nighttime hours, and said Doremus Avenue would be closed to pedestrian traffic beginning at midnight, with vehicle access limited to those with verified official business.

That narrowness is what will define the political fight now unfolding in Newark, New Jersey’s largest city. Supporters of the curfew will point to repeated clashes, arrests, and reports of weapons as proof that officials used an incremental safety tool rather than a broader suppression of dissent. Critics are likely to see a test case for how far local governments can go in policing protest around immigration enforcement without chilling future demonstrations at Delaney Hall and beyond.