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Anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demonstrations continued to escalate Thursday night at Newark, New Jersey's Delaney Hall detention center, as rioters bit, kicked and punched agents.
Agents responded by deploying pepper spray and beating back agitators on the sixth night of demonstrations.
Nine rioters were arrested during the clashes Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital.
Approximately 100 agitators mobbed the area surrounding the detention center, chanting "F--- ICE" and brandishing black umbrellas, gas masks and other gear to protect themselves from pepper spray and various anti-riot measures.
ICE agents pushed heavily into the crowd, beating back agitators and deploying pepper spray as crowds screamed but continued to physically confront the agents.
Photos from the scene, captured by Fox News Digital, showed agitators washing eyes out after being exposed to pepper spray.
An anti-ICE agitator gets his eye washed out after being exposed to pepper spray during a demonstration at Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital.)
"On the evening of May 28th, approximately 100 anti-ICE rioters gathered around the Delaney Hall ICE facility. Rioters bit, kicked, and punched law enforcement officers," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Governor Sherrill refused to allow state police to assist our officers," he added. "Assaulting and obstructing ICE law enforcement is a crime and felony. Throughout the night, nine rioters were arrested. Anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
"Law and order will prevail," Mullin added.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stand outside Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital.)
Amid the intense altercations, Fox News Digital captured a Newark Police Department squad car briefly driving by the scene. The appearance was notable as local police have largely refrained from assisting federal forces in containment measures, according to Mullin.
On Wednesday evening, DHS reported that approximately 100 anti-ICE rioters gathered around the Delaney Hall ICE facility. While rioters assaulted and threw objects at law enforcement, DHS said "local police refused to help our officers." Six rioters were arrested Wednesday night for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers.
"We called local police, we called state police multiple times. Listen, I know the law enforcement there would love to respond, but because of Governor Sherrill's behavior what the governor is doing, she's not allowing public officers and state officers to respond," Mullin said during a Thursday morning appearance on Fox & Friends.
Demonstrations over conditions for detainees began Friday, May 22, after detainees penned an open letter claiming they were being denied access to medical care, being insufficiently fed and detained without due process.
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DHS denied the veracity of those claims.
"The facts are all detainees are provided with three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries. Illegal aliens also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers," the department said in a statement.
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., stands outside the Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital.)
Still, agitators continued to brawl with ICE agents, buoyed by frequent appearances from prominent Democratic lawmakers. In addition to New Jersey's Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., New York lawmakers such as Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., showed up as well.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., stands outside the Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital.)
Federal authorities are currently trying to track down agitators who allegedly made direct threats to kill federal agents and their families on Wednesday night.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News' Will Cain that an agitator, who told an ICE agent, "Your children, your wife, all dead. I have your face motherf-----, you're dead," committed a federal crime by doing so.
"Think about how disgusting this individual is, threatening his family and his children with death. What is this man doing? He's just doing his job standing there," Blanche said.
ICE agents and agitators stand off at Delaney Hall in Newark on May 27, 2026. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
"I promise you, we will find him and when we find him we will arrest him," Blanche vowed.
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Sherrill, for her part, blamed ICE agents for the violence and said that her administration will continue supporting the demonstrators. The governor categorized the demonstrators as peaceful.
Sherrill also announced that the state's Department of Health conducted a health inspection on a limited part of Delaney Hall.
Fox News Digital contacted Newark Police, Sherrill's office and representatives for Goldman and Nadler for additional comment.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
