By: Richard L. Smith
Tensions flared outside the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center Sunday evening as protesters blocked transport vehicles carrying detainees and prompted Newark police to respond to the facility on Doremus Avenue.
According to emergency communications monitored by RLS Media, additional police units were requested to the detention center after demonstrators formed barricades near the facility’s entrance and attempted to prevent vehicles transporting detainees from leaving the property.
During the incident, a relative of one detainee reportedly struck a transport vehicle while detainees were being moved from the site.
The latest protest comes as Delaney Hall remains at the center of an ongoing political, legal, and humanitarian debate in New Jersey.
The 1,000-bed facility, operated by the private prison company GEO Group under a federal ICE contract, reopened in 2025 and has faced sustained opposition from immigrant-rights advocates, local elected officials, and community organizations.
Critics have raised concerns about detainee treatment, access to legal counsel, medical care, and overall living conditions inside the center.
Newark officials have also challenged the facility’s operation, arguing that the center opened without completing required municipal inspections and occupancy approvals.
The City of Newark has been engaged in a legal battle with GEO Group over access to inspect the property and determine whether the building complies with local safety and occupancy requirements.
A federal judge recently ordered the parties into mediation as that dispute continues.
The facility has drawn national attention over the past year, including protests involving elected officials and immigration advocates seeking access to the site. Demonstrations outside Delaney Hall have become increasingly frequent as advocates continue to demand greater transparency regarding conditions inside the detention center and the treatment of those being held there.
Authorities have not announced any arrests related to Sunday’s protest, and the situation was reported to be under control later in the evening. 
The incident remains under investigation.
As protests continue and legal challenges move through the courts, Delaney Hall remains one of the most closely watched immigration detention facilities in the Northeast, serving as a focal point in the broader debate over federal immigration enforcement and detainee conditions in New Jersey.