What’s happening outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark is no longer a protest. It’s an organized, multi-front assault on federal law enforcement. This weekend, it forced city officials to impose a curfew while federal and state authorities made clear they know exactly who is fueling it.
The current unrest dates back several weeks to the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at the facility itself. Federal officials alleged Baraka entered Delaney Hall without authorization and refused repeated orders to leave, thrusting the detention center into the national spotlight and hardening the standoff between local officials and federal immigration authorities.
A new undercover video from independent journalist Nick Sortor added another layer to that picture, showing what appears to be a well-funded, well-supplied encampment operating near the facility.
The footage shows tents, bulk supplies, hot food, signage, and what Sortor described as riot equipment. That level of logistical organization doesn’t happen by accident. The video alone doesn’t name the funders, but it puts the lie to any claim that this is a spontaneous, grassroots protest. Someone is bankrolling this operation, and officials at multiple levels are now saying the same thing out loud. The Department of Homeland Security put numbers to it.
“5 out of the 6 arrests last night were people from OUTSIDE of New Jersey.There is a coordinated campaign of violence against our ICE law enforcement.Our ICE law enforcement officers are facing an 8,000% increase in death threats and a 1,300% increase in assaults against them.This violence against law enforcement must end.”
In the same press conference, Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) acknowledged masked individuals attacked barriers, threw projectiles, used barricades as weapons, and set tires on fire. She called in additional law enforcement to restore order, then declared, “We simply cannot let ICE surge into our community,” and renewed her call for Delaney Hall’s closure. The governor of New Jersey watched a mob attack law enforcement and responded by siding with the mob’s underlying demand.
The mayor, who was himself arrested at Delaney Hall weeks ago, is now imposing a curfew around it.
In his statement, Baraka cited the “escalating situation,” confirmed multiple arrests, and noted that some individuals had allegedly been found with weapons. The curfew runs nightly from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. within a half-mile radius of Delaney Hall. Doremus Avenue will be closed to pedestrian traffic beginning at midnight, with vehicle access limited to verified official business. Violations will result in removal and potential legal action.
Earlier this week, a rioter singled out an unmasked ICE agent and screamed directly at him:
“I’ll kill your whole f***in’ family. Your whole f***in’ family is dead. Your children. Your wife. All dead. I have your face, mother***er.”
The footage spread instantly, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche went on Fox News to make a personal promise:
“I promise you, we will find him, and when we find him, we will arrest him.”
The FBI made good on that promise within days. Blanche’s announcement was characteristically brief:
“Told you. FAFO.”
Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, called Sunday for immediate federal prosecution.
The full scope of outside coordination may still be under investigation, but the broad strokes are no longer in serious dispute. Someone is bankrolling this, someone is organizing it, and federal, state, and city officials are now managing the results: sustained violence, confirmed outside agitators, a formal curfew, and mounting calls for federal seditious conspiracy charges. Now, the question is who gets held accountable for it.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY