Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) pushed back Wednesday against Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's allegations that he was “complaining” about being hit with pepper ball spray during a protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Newark. In a video response, Kim insisted the incident was never about his own discomfort but about the treatment of detainees and demonstrators.
The confrontation unfolded during a White House cabinet meeting, where Mullin criticized Kim for attending the Tuesday protest at Delaney Hall, a migrant detention center. Mullin claimed Kim had complained about the pepper ball spray, but the New Jersey Democrat countered that his concern was for the “chaos inside and outside” the facility, where detainees were protesting what they described as inhumane conditions.
“I was willing to take that risk,” Kim said in his Wednesday statement. “I’m not complaining about the pepper ball spray for me. I’m complaining about what the treatment is to my constituents, to Americans and to civilians that were in harm’s way.” Videos from the protest showed volunteers pouring water into Kim’s eyes as he held an ice pack, while he recounted the incident on CNN.
The protest came as detainees at Delaney Hall launched a hunger strike over “inhumane conditions,” including lack of due process, poor food quality, and inadequate medical care. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said “hundreds of individuals” were participating, calling it a response to “longstanding, systematic abuse in immigration detention.” Kim noted that ICE sent an armored vehicle and armed agents to the scene, and that “civilians were tackled and restrained, and agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) also visited the facility on Wednesday, meeting with both staff and detainees. He described the conditions as a “moral stain on our community” and stressed that most of those held have no criminal charges or violent histories. “This is unacceptable to me,” Booker said, vowing not to vote for additional ICE funding. Both senators have called for the facility’s closure, as congressional Republicans have struggled to pass budget reconciliation that would boost funding for ICE and Border Patrol.
Mullin, however, defended the agency, claiming that Delaney Hall houses “rapists, child predators, murderers, drug dealers.” He dismissed the hunger strike as involving only “a handful” of detainees who wanted “ethnic” food. “They can go back to their country and get whatever food they want,” Mullin said. “The fact is we’re giving them the calories they want. This isn’t Holiday Inn, we’re giving them sanitation.”
The exchange highlights a deepening partisan divide over immigration enforcement, with Democrats accusing the Trump administration of harsh tactics and Republicans defending ICE actions as necessary for public safety. The Newark protest and subsequent political fallout have drawn attention to conditions at detention facilities across the country, including similar unrest at other sites. For more on the broader immigration debate, read about lawmakers demanding answers on detainee conditions and Mullin's criticism of Democratic senators over ICE incidents.
