Sherrill’s protest zones at Delaney Hall spark arrests and criticism

Mikie Sherrill’s effort to calm the fight at Delaney Hall instead exposed how fragile control around the Newark detention center had become. After state police replaced federal agents in public safety operations outside the site, dozens of protesters were arrested over the weekend, and the clash deepened a yearlong battle over immigration detention, medical care and who gets to decide what happens outside a privately run federal jail.

Sherrill announced “peaceful, protected” protest zones and said New Jersey State Police would take over public safety outside the facility, with vehicle checkpoints and a separate area for supporters of immigration officers. The governor’s aim was to preserve protest rights while preventing a larger federal response and keeping the Trump administration from using Newark as a pretext for escalation. But the move did not stop the confrontation from spreading, and it raised its own question: when the scene turned volatile, who was actually in charge?

State officials said some demonstrators violated the protest-zone rules, threw items at law enforcement and set a tire on fire. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka blasted the response, saying the state police presence looked like the same kind of show of force that had already inflamed tensions. Activists on the left said the troopers were too aggressive. The unrest was severe enough to prompt a partial curfew near the detention center and disrupt family visitation, a key link between detainees and their relatives.

Delaney Hall has been a flashpoint since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement signed a 15-year contract worth roughly $1 billion with GEO Group to operate the site. ICE announced in February 2025 that the facility would reopen as a 1,000-bed center, though some descriptions put its capacity at 1,196. The center reopened amid lawsuits and repeated efforts by Newark officials to inspect or shut it down, with city leaders saying it had operated amid legal and permitting disputes since its reopening.

Protests intensified in late May after immigrant advocates said detainees had launched a hunger strike over conditions inside, including unsanitary food and inadequate medical care. Some reports said about 300 detainees took part. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other Democratic lawmakers who visited the facility said what they saw “shock the conscience.” Sherrill later said the Department of Homeland Security had agreed to restore visitation.

The dispute has grown beyond one detention center. It has become a test of whether state power can restrain federal immigration enforcement without simply recreating it, and whether Newark, immigrants and their families will see real accountability inside a system built to keep decision-making out of public view.