A few dozen protesters rallied outside the New Jersey statehouse in Trenton on Monday afternoon. They carried handmade signs with messages such as “U made it worse” and “Gov Sherrill, stop lying about Delaney Hall”. One led a collective chant that summed up the rally’s mood: “Hey, Mikie, WTF?”
The target of their ire: the governor, Mikie Sherrill. Protesters say the newly elected Democratic governor has failed to adequately address the dire situation at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, where at least 300 detainees are on a hunger and labor strike.
Over the weekend, Sherrill sent in state police to “lower the temperature” on the protests outside the facility, where hundreds of people had been gathering every day in support of the detainees striking over what they say are poor conditions, including maggot-ridden food and denial of access to medical care. However, when the state police arrived in riot gear and on horseback, tensions ticked up. According to multiple protest organizers who spoke to the Guardian, dozens of protesters were arrested, and some were hospitalized. State police pulled a local news crew from their vehicle, exposing them to teargas. Other journalists were arrested and held in custody for a full day.
Meanwhile, Sherrill has yet to meet the strikers’ demands - the first of which is to meet with the governor. Early last week, ICE denied her access to Delaney. She said she is still being denied, but has met with family members of the detainees.
“I will continue fighting for accountability, transparency, and better conditions at Delaney Hall,” Sherrill posted on X on Wednesday. “The detainees have requested to meet with me and I want to meet with them.”
Protesters told the Guardian they were upset at Sherrill, as well as her appointed state attorney general, Jennifer Davenport, for sending in state police forces that brutalized protesters while failing to meet any of the demands issued by the hunger and labor strikers. On top of protesting outside Delaney, demonstrators are putting direct pressure on officials, rallying at their offices and reiterating the demands of the hunger strikers. They want the detainees released and for protesters’ first amendment rights to be protected.
“It’s about as gross a betrayal of these families [of detainees] and her voters as you can get,” said Sameer Khetan, a New Jersey resident who helped lead the Trenton rally.
The demands asked of Sherrill
Defending her deployment of state police, Sherrill blamed “violence” at the protests on “people coming from out of state to create chaos and dangerous situations”. It’s true that some protesters have been coming to Delaney from nearby states such as New York and Pennsylvania, but many of the Delaney detainees are also from New York, according to an analysis from Austin Kocher, a Syracuse University research assistant professor.
Advocates and organizers have condemned the “outside agitator” rhetoric, saying that the state government’s focus on policing protesters distracts from elected officials’ responsibility to protect the detainees and close Delaney Hall.
On 3 June, hunger and labor strikers in Delaney issued a statement detailing violence within the facility in retaliation for the strike: “We have been subjected to reprisals, discrimination, mockery, mistreatment and threats, mainly from ‘GEO’ staff,” referring to the Geo Group, which runs the facility. The strikers said that ICE agents came in and pepper-sprayed strikers, causing some to be sent to the hospital: “To this day, we haven’t heard anything about those people.”
A spokesperson for Geo Group confirmed to the City Reporter that staff used “chemical agents” in response to “a physical altercation involving detainees”. In a statement, the DHS claimed that “all affected detainees were promptly evaluated by on-site medical personnel and were cleared with no serious injuries”.
Upon taking office in January, Sherrill, a former federal prosecutor and US Congress member, strengthened sanctuary protections within the state, signaling that she would be a staunch opponent of ICE operations. But Delaney has been a test of that promise. Sherrill joins a pattern of elected Democrats who have criticized ICE operations – including the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, and the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker – while presiding over law enforcement forces arresting citizens protesting those operations.
John Mark Rozendaal was playing his cello outside Delaney on Friday night when state police descended in riot gear. He said the police threw his cello to the side and removed his mask, exposing him to teargas.
“Since [organizers] were asking for musicians, I took my cello and I played,” he said. “I hoped that my playing out there outside the mutual aid tent was comforting and calming for someone.”
Instead, he was arrested. One protester outside Sherrill’s office on Monday had already made a sign with livestream photos of Rozendaal playing the cello and his arrest. It was captioned “Mikie Sherrill turning down the temperature”, a reference to the governor’s language about her decision to send in state police.
Multiple protesters spoke to the Guardian about hopes that Sherrill could be removed from her office through a recall; at least one progressive group that had thrown its weight behind Sherrill called for her resignation.
“This is not the person I thought I was voting for,” said Neal McGrath at the rally outside Sherrill’s office on Monday. “If I knew that this was going to happen, I don’t think I would’ve voted for her.”
Steps toward accountability
The hunger-striking detainees and protesters have seen some wins in the two weeks since the Delaney hunger and labor strike began. Visitation, previously suspended, is slowly being permitted again. According to advocacy group Cosecha New Jersey, as of 1 June, all the pregnant people inside Delaney Hall have been released.
That same day, the Newark mayor, Ras Baraka, announced the city would be taking over supervision of the protests from state police, distancing himself from their conduct over the weekend. Organizers say that part of the goal of the protests outside Delaney is to show support for those inside through noise; that is now possible again, with the removal of the “free speech zone” barricades erected by state police and the city’s curfew lifted.
New Jersey elected officials are also exploring accountability measures: On 2 June, both Baraka and Sherrill and Davenport announced lawsuits against Geo Group, citing health concerns and the state department of health being denied full access to the facility. (The city of Newark has been engaged in legal action against Geo Group over the facility since April 2025.)
In a statement on X, the DHS responded: “This is a frivolous lawsuit. ICE is committed to transparency, and Delaney Hall complies with all required state and local laws.”
Still, pressure remains on Sherrill. On Wednesday, she told multiple WNYC callers who asked about the violence over the weekend that “if state police crossed lines, the state attorney general would look into the matter”. On Thursday, she announced a $12m increase in funding for the Detention Deportation Defense Initiative, the state’s free legal services program for residents facing deportations, as well as a rapid legal response initiative for emergency immigration defense.
However, organizers say their work isn’t over as long as detainees are in Delaney. After Baraka lifted the curfew around Delaney on Tuesday, protesters rushed back to the facility. It was the first time this week that people held inside were able to hear the protesters calling for their release.
“When we’re outside Delaney Hall, we’re chanting: ‘Free them all,’” said Rozendaal. “We see them waving to us. We see them making little heart shapes with their hands. We hear from the families that the people inside are strengthened and rejoiced by our presence out there.”
Additional reporting by José Olivares
