There are both peaceful and violent protesters outside the Newark ICE detention center. But in the last several days the violence has escalated. A cordoned-off special protest area was set up, then repeatedly breached. The city’s mayor has declared a curfew near the site, between nine at night and six in the morning.
The protesters’ complaints against the treatment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at the Delaney Hall location run along familiar lines. New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, says that many of those held in this private facility are in the country legally, not illegally, and all lack adequate council, allowed visitation, and medical access.
Those who are indeed here legally should not be held, of course — they should be released — and the Democratic governor is right to seek remedies for any deplorable conditions that actually exist.
But burning tires and bonfires on the streets outside don’t expedite careful review of detainees’ cases.
Some of the most noticeable protesters, you will not be shocked to learn, wear masks and have become increasingly violent towards the police who are trying to keep the peace, as well as towards the facility and ICE personnel accessing the site.
“We know that people from outside of the state have been interfering in the protests and escalating them,” the governor said at a Saturday press conference. “Five of the six people arrested last night by state police were from outside New Jersey.”
Governor Sherrill urges the protesters to “bring the temperature down.”
And she asks out-of-state activists to leave the issue to New Jersey citizens.
Meanwhile, the governor tries to place much of the blame on an increased ICE presence — rather than just the masked pseudo-revolutionaries — for the decreasing ability to ensure justice is being done in Delaney Hall.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Illustration created with Nano Banana
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