A well-stocked anti-ICE coalition tent outside New Jersey’s embattled Delaney Hall immigration detention center was raided by federal authorities Monday — exposing what activists were keeping inside as mayhem continues to plague the area.
Eye-catching photos revealed cases of Spindrift seltzers, puzzles and games, plush toys, books, keffiyeh scarves and assorted signs stuffed into boxes or scattered around the Eyes of ICE mutual aid tent outside the Newark detention center.
Planters with wilting flowers were abandoned on foldable tables. Other boxes were overflowing with handwarmers and blankets, while some unused posters reflected Catholic imagery and references to the Virgin Mary.
Kathy O’Leary, president of the coalition, said her team is one of the few groups helping people reach detainees as detention centers impose more stringent visitation rules in response to the disastrous protests.
O’Leary told the New Jersey Monitor that detainees’ families and loved ones visit the volunteer tent to receive food and connect with attorneys or social workers. She said that she hadn’t been able to reach the tent since police blocked the street off to pedestrians.
“The facility has never given accurate or complete information to the families about how things work,” she separately told Gothamist, scoffing at the idea of police escorts for visitors.
“People are not going to want to do it. They’re not going to be comfortable with it.”
The Post reached out to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security for more information on the raid.
Chaos engulfed the immigration detention facility over Memorial Day weekend after top Democratic officials, including New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, raised concerns about inhumane conditions in the facility and the lack of visitation hours.
Mobs of unhinged anti-ICE thugs — whose identities are largely hidden beneath gas masks and keffiyeh scarves — descended on the area, clashing with federal agents and unleashing 10 straight days of mayhem.
The demonstrations were sparked by ICE detainees’ purported hunger strike in protest against alleged deplorable living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility.
The Trump administration has countered that the standard of living at Delaney Hall is higher than most US prisons.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka instituted a 9 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew for the half-mile area around the detention center until further notice.
Protesters and residents alike caught violating the curfew will receive an initial warning before they’re removed — and could face legal action if they refuse to comply, Baraka said in a statement.
As the pandemonium continues, Sherrill brazenly announced an early win and claimed that officials bartered for the restoration of visitation rights — one of the grievances that incited the hunger strike.
Sherrill’s victory lap did little to quell the protest. At least 20 protesters were arrested outside of Delaney Hall on Sunday, and one was even charged for allegedly threatening to kill an ICE officer and his family.
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