NJ Spotlight News
Four escape Newark ICE center as tensions boil over
Clip: 6/13/2025 | 5m 24sVideo has Closed Captions
Sen. Andy Kim says future of Delaney Hall, ‘an insecure facility,’ now in doubt
A vigil outside the Delaney Hall immigrant detention center in Newark erupted into chaos on Tuesday night. Protesters clashed with police, as officials said inside the center undocumented immigrants staged a riot, exposing structural deficiencies so severe that four detainees escaped through a hole in the wall, and the facility may now be evacuated, according to officials.
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NJ Spotlight News is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN PBS
NJ Spotlight News
Four escape Newark ICE center as tensions boil over
Clip: 6/13/2025 | 5m 24sVideo has Closed Captions
A vigil outside the Delaney Hall immigrant detention center in Newark erupted into chaos on Tuesday night. Protesters clashed with police, as officials said inside the center undocumented immigrants staged a riot, exposing structural deficiencies so severe that four detainees escaped through a hole in the wall, and the facility may now be evacuated, according to officials.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipwell New York's Delaney Hall is back in the crosshairs of the federal government according to the Department of Homeland Security four detainees escaped from the immigration detention center Thursday night amid unrest and an uprising from detainees being held there protesting the conditions inside now the FBI and DHS officials are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the detainees that escaped federal authorities say they've also brought in more law enforcement resources to help with search efforts but there's no details about just which agencies are involved it's the second major incident to happen at the 1,000 bed facility since it opened under the Trump administration where Newark Mayor Raz Baraka was falsely arrested for trespassing and Congresswoman Lam Monica Macgyver is now facing charges of assault on immigration officers senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan has the details [Music] a vigil outside the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark erupted into chaos protesters clashed with police last night as undocumented immigrants locked up inside staged a riot exposing structural deficiencies so severe four detainees escaped through a hole in the wall and the facility now faces an evacuation according to officials everything that they told me was that yes it's an insecure facility they do not have confidence in this facility which is why they're doing this security review and it looks like moving all most if not all of the detainees out of there while they do a review in that process senator Andy Kim and Congressman Rob Mendez tooured Delaney this morning the day after the uprising kim said inspections uncovered detainees in unit 5 had pushed through drywall reinforced with nothing but mesh to access an outside exit dhs stated additional law enforcement partners have been brought in to find these escapees and a be on the lookout has been disseminated kim wants to hear more about what is the future of this facility and whether or not they are going to shut it down so that is what our understanding is we do not want this here in New Jersey we do not believe that this reflects our state families and attorneys say they'd gotten phone calls throughout the day Thursday from detainees complaining about poor conditions lack of food and mounting discontent there was a protest during lunch because people had gone over 20 hours without food and when lunch arrived that day it was at 300 p.m some people were given a single Frankfurt or hot dog other people were given slices of bread and everyone was given a mini water bottle this is on top of chronic complaints that we've heard out of Delaney Hall that there's insufficient food that the tap water is undrinkable because there's a stench that comes off of the water and when it comes from the pipe it's boiling hot and they say they haven't eat and everybody got crazy upstairs and they were breaking doors and window he wasn't involved about it but he was worried about what can happen next cecilia Durant's brothers inside Delaney she says emotions inside hit critical mass and a fight broke out one detainee called a legal aid with interfaith rise he was really unsure what to do there was uh thoughts that the place might go up in flames he didn't want to be stuck inside if if the riot turned into a fire i think that like the uprising inside spilled out outside you know people are angry people are frustrated we don't want these facilities here mayor Raz Baraka who claimed the facility was not up to code after it opened said in a statement "This entire situation lacks sufficient oversight of every basic detail including local zoning laws and fundamental constitutional rights this is why city officials and our congressional delegation need to be allowed entry to observe and monitor and why private prisons pose a very real problem to our state and its constitution it shows just how shoddy of construction was here what happens when we are paying for uh billions of dollars of forprofit prisons that are skirting the responsibilities that they have and try to pocket as much of that money as possible this is the second inspection at Delaney Hall by New Jersey congressional officials the first one did not end well the group got into a shoving match with ICE officers congresswoman Lam Monica MacGyver now faces felony assault charges she's pleaded not guilty trespassing charges against Baraka were later dropped detainees attorneys say they can't get in touch with their clients this is happening to all my colleagues when someone has a client here a an attorney in my position we have to get an appointment and they're saying "Oh we have limited capacity we don't have rooms."
They are saying visitation is closed today uh they are giving no information you asked to speak to a supervisor the guy who's manning the gate says he is the supervisor dhs did not respond to questions about any of these issues kim says he believes the detainees will be moved to a facility in Pennsylvania in New York i'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight News [Music]
FIFA Club World Cup kicks off, brings soccer fever to NJ
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Clip: 6/13/2025 | 1m 18s | Matches begin Sunday at MetLife Stadium and will run until mid-July (1m 18s)
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