US Senator Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, said he was pepper-sprayed by federal agents during a protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Newark on Monday. Kim described seeing 'chaos' and a 'standoff' between protesters and agents outside Delaney Hall, where detainees are reportedly on hunger strike over poor conditions and denial of medical care.
Video posted on social media showed Kim receiving aid from a volunteer who poured water into his eyes. The senator said he had been inside the facility to inspect conditions and emerged to find an armoured vehicle used as a barricade. He attempted to de-escalate the situation by standing in front of the vehicle, but ICE officials pushed through the crowd, using pepper spray and pepper balls.
Kim told USA Today that people were 'getting tackled and brought to the ground' and that ICE 'started shooting at us with pepper balls and using pepper spray'. He said he tried to keep people safe by standing in the middle of the confrontation. In a post on X, he called the incident 'shameful' and blamed the administration's failures, demanding the facility be shut down.
Protests have been ongoing since Friday, with allegations of rotten food, lack of medical care, and broken air conditioning. Detainees released a letter on Tuesday demanding a meeting with Governor Phil Murphy, who has been denied access to the facility. The Department of Homeland Security denied there was a hunger strike or substandard conditions.
Ana Paola Pazmiño from Resistencia en Accion New Jersey claimed some detainees have been held for over a year and are served rotten food. The air around the facility smells of sewage and chemicals, worsening with warmer weather. Reverend Erich Kussman of St Bartholomew Lutheran Church said, 'We shouldn't be doing this to fellow human beings.'
