Federal officers spray chemical irritants and charge demonstrators at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE jail

On the night of Tuesday, May 26, 2026, federal immigration officers sprayed chemical irritants and charged at demonstrators gathered outside Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed privately operated ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. The demonstrators had assembled in solidarity with roughly 300 detainees inside the facility — run for profit by the GEO Group — who had begun a coordinated hunger and labor strike the previous Friday to protest conditions they described as inhumane, including spoiled and rotten food, denial of adequate medical care, and failed air conditioning. The May 26 confrontation followed hours of relative quiet and capped several consecutive days of clashes between federal personnel and protesters at the site.

The use of chemical force at Delaney Hall was not isolated. On Memorial Day, masked and armored federal personnel pepper-sprayed U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) at the same facility as he attempted to deescalate tensions following a congressional oversight tour, and federal agents had earlier fired pepper balls, mace, and tear gas at demonstrators on multiple occasions, including while removing a hunger-strike organizer whom protesters tried to shield from transport. Journalists covering the protests were among those exposed to the chemical agents during the crowd dispersals. The Department of Homeland Security publicly disputed the detainees' account, with officials asserting there was "NO hunger strike at Delaney Hall" and "no subprime conditions," even as members of Congress who toured the facility described filthy conditions, inadequate medical care, and abusive treatment.

The episode reflects a pattern of masked, armored federal immigration personnel deploying chemical and physical force against civilian demonstrators outside an immigration detention facility — conduct that implicates excessive force by law enforcement, the militarization of routine policing functions, and the use of violence in the course of immigration enforcement. The strike inside, and the conditions that prompted it, remained unresolved as the confrontations outside continued.