PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Families of detainees housed at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, can visit their loved ones again after federal officials had barred visitation for about a week amid ongoing protests over the facility’s alleged conditions.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said state and local law enforcement will escort visitors into Delaney Hall after visitation resumed at noon Sunday. It will be back on a normal schedule on Monday.
The move comes as intense protests outside the controversial Newark Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility continue. New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said three people were arrested Saturday night, including one person who was carrying a weapon unlawfully. According to Davenport, protesters used barriers as weapons, threw things, and lit fires in the street, prompting multiple rounds of tear gas.
“Violence has no place in our state,” Davenport said. “Such violence is no excuse for an ICE surge here either.”
Protests picked up about a week ago over allegations of inhumane conditions for detainees. Immigrant advocates said some people being held at Delaney Hall went on a hunger strike. Sherrill, who was denied entry to Delaney Hall a few days ago, called for increased transparency and better conditions.
“[DHS] must give detainees a meaningful chance to review their cases,” Sherrill said. “It must stop pressuring detainees into signing deportation documents. And it must be transparent about who is being held at that facility.”
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has instituted a 9 p.m. curfew around the facility indefinitely.
