Rayaan Baywa, 22, of the Riverside section of Greenwich, was among six people arrested by Newark police Saturday and Sunday outside Delaney Hall and charged with rioting/failure to disperse, according to the city’s Department of Public Safety.
“These arrests were made after the suspects were observed committing property damage and blocking the entrance of Delaney Hall,” Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda Sr. said in a statement posted on the department’s Facebook page. “At that point, an unlawful assembly was ordered, as blocking the entrance is a public safety hazard that puts everyone, including the detainees, in danger. These individuals refused to comply.”
Protesters, some wearing gas masks and helmets, have tried to block vehicles from entering or leaving the facility, The Associated Press reported. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche shared images online of bloody wounds and bruises sustained by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Videos on social media show officers in riot gear deploying tear gas and using batons to beat back the demonstrators, the AP reported.
The protests, which started in May, have become the latest flashpoint for demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement. Demonstrators say they are advocating for detainees after claims of poor living conditions. The Trump administration has defended the treatment of people held at the 1,000-bed facility.
The center is owned by Geo Group, a private prison contractor that runs multiple detention centers across the country. Detainees launched a hunger strike last month, according to Cosecha, an immigrant advocacy group, claiming overcrowding in cells that lack air-conditioning and moldy food, among other issues.
Trump and his deputies have denied there is any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside.
“The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said recently. “This isn’t Holiday Inn.”
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, praised the food after a recent visit. “The spaghetti was good,” he told CBS News.
Geo Group has dismissed the criticisms as “a politically motivated campaign by outside groups to dismantle ICE and federal immigration detention by targeting the government’s facility contractors.”
Others arrested with Baywa were: Allison Wuu, 19, of Fort Collins, Colo.; Lucas Jimenez, 18, of Hoboken, N.J.; Drew Larsen, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y.;
Solomon Dunston, 30, of Bordentown, N.J.; and Julianna Wurst, 19, of Old Bridge, N.J., according to Newark authorities.