Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) was pepper-sprayed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Monday while participating in a protest outside the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. The incident occurred as demonstrators gathered to demand better conditions for roughly 300 migrants who have launched a hunger and work strike inside the facility.
Videos circulating online show mutual aid volunteers pouring water into Kim’s eyes as he holds an ice pack. In one clip, the senator is seen speaking directly to ICE agents surrounding a detained individual; in another, he addresses protesters. Kim later described the scene as “chaos inside and outside” the detention center.
“Detainees protesting the lack of due process, the disgusting food and poor treatment while their families and advocates stood outside calling for help,” Kim wrote on X. “Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire.”
The New Jersey Democrat said he witnessed agents tackle and restrain demonstrators, and “agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd.” Kim told the New Jersey Globe that breathing became difficult after the pepper-spraying, and that officers used batons to disperse the crowd.
“What I witnessed and experienced today was shameful,” Kim said. “Delaney Hall is a failure; it’s this administration’s failure. The only way to make this right for our communities is to shut it down and make sure the failures we’ve seen never happen again.”
Kim was joined by other Democratic elected officials, including New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill and Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Nellie Pou, for an oversight visit. Sherrill and Menendez said they were initially denied access to the facility. All of the lawmakers were photographed speaking with protesters.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Kim gained entry after directly calling Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The spokesperson did not confirm whether Sherrill or the other lawmakers were allowed in. Mullin posted on X that there was no hunger strike and called the Democrats’ visit a “political stunt.”
Protesters have been outside Delaney Hall since Friday, when organizer Gabriela Soto arrived at the start of the strike. Soto, whose husband has been detained at the facility since February, told The City: “The people inside Delaney Hall are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, and members of our community. In New Jersey, we believe in the rule of law and that everyone deserves to be treated with basic dignity. We have a duty to safeguard the rights, health, and well-being of everyone within our borders.”
Kim’s experience echoes broader tensions around immigration enforcement. In Illinois, prosecutors recently dropped charges against four ICE protesters, and some Democrats worry that anti-Trump fury is becoming a political liability. The standoff at Delaney Hall underscores the ongoing clash between local officials and federal immigration authorities.
