NJ Governor Joins the Fray as ICE Detainees Launch Hunger Strike

New Jersey's governor is demanding a closer look at a Newark immigration lockup where detainees have launched a hunger strike over conditions they describe as unsafe and degrading, the New York Times reports. Mikie Sherrill on Monday joined demonstrators outside the facility, Delaney Hall, saying she'd asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement for access and was turned down, CBS News reports. "No matter what your immigration status is, you shouldn't be treated with anything less than dignity," she told the crowd, after hearing accounts of rancid food and poor medical care from relatives of those held inside. One boy says his detained father is not receiving diabetes medication, ABC 7 reports.

The day only grew more volatile after she left. Protesters later moved to block an entrance as a convoy of ICE vehicles arrived, prompting agents to push demonstrators aside and eventually fire pepper balls and spray into the crowd. Sen. Andy Kim, who said he was trying to calm the confrontation, was among those pepper-sprayed, Fox 8 reports. Delaney Hall, a privately run, 1,000-bed center that has become central to President Trump's immigration enforcement efforts in the region, has faced unrest and protests before, including a 2025 escape of four detainees and the arrest of Newark's mayor during a prior clash with federal agents.