Death Threats Target Agents’ Families

A police officer in a tactical vest stands near a barbed wire fence with an American flag in the background

Anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters outside a Newark, New Jersey detention facility unleashed death threats against federal officers’ families, hurled wooden pallets and mattresses, and sprayed agents with an unknown chemical substance — all while demanding the release of detainees held for illegal immigration violations.

Story Highlights

Anti-ICE rioters outside Delaney Hall detention center in Newark assaulted federal officers with an unknown chemical substance, threw wooden pallets and mattresses, and screamed death threats at agents and their families.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary confirmed officers were assaulted and deployed pepper balls and batons in response to the violent crowd.
DHS categorically denied mistreatment claims, stating all detainees receive three meals daily, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, and medical care.
Six protesters were arrested during the clashes, and Newark’s mayor was also arrested at the scene during a separate protest incident.

Death Threats and Chemical Attacks Against Federal Officers

Video footage and witness accounts from outside Delaney Hall captured protesters screaming, “I’ll kill your whole f–king family. Your whole f–king family is dead. Your children, your wife, all…” — directed at federal ICE officers standing their posts. Beyond the verbal threats, rioters sprayed agents with an unknown chemical substance and hurled wooden pallets and mattresses at law enforcement. DHS Secretary confirmed the assaults, stating that “ICE law enforcement officers were assaulted by anti-ICE rioters who sprayed law enforcement with an unknown chemical substance.”

Federal officers responded to the escalating violence by deploying pepper balls and batons to push back the crowd. Six protesters were arrested during the clashes. The chaos spilled into the roadway as demonstrators blocked traffic and confronted officers for extended periods. Newark’s mayor was separately arrested at a protest at the facility, an incident that drew national attention and raised questions about elected officials encouraging or participating in demonstrations that devolved into violence against federal law enforcement.

What Protesters Claimed — and What DHS Says

Advocates and protesters assembled outside Delaney Hall alleged that detainees inside were staging a hunger strike over squalid and unsafe living conditions. Some reports described detainees waving from windows as crowds gathered below. Several members of Congress echoed those claims, publicly characterizing conditions inside the facility as dire. These allegations drove much of the protest energy and media coverage surrounding the facility in recent days.

DHS pushed back firmly against every major allegation. According to Fox News reporting, DHS stated that all detainees are provided with three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries. DHS also confirmed detainees have phone access to contact family members and legal counsel. The agency’s denial was specific and categorical, directly addressing the claimed deprivations point by point rather than offering a generic dismissal of the protests.

A Pattern of Protest Tactics Targeting Immigration Enforcement

The Delaney Hall confrontations fit a broader playbook used by anti-ICE activists across the country: generate media-friendly protest imagery outside a detention facility, amplify unverified claims of mistreatment from inside, and apply political pressure to force concessions or facility closures. The tactic has been used repeatedly since ICE enforcement ramped up under the Trump administration’s second term, with advocacy groups coordinating demonstrations designed to slow or disrupt deportation operations.

What sets the Newark incident apart is the severity of the violence directed at federal officers — chemical attacks, projectile throwing, and explicit death threats against agents and their families cross a clear legal and moral line. Americans who support secure borders and the rule of law should understand that these are not peaceful demonstrations; they are organized efforts to physically intimidate and harm the federal officers carrying out lawful immigration enforcement. The Trump administration has signaled it will prosecute those who assault ICE agents, and the six arrests made outside Delaney Hall may be just the beginning of accountability for those who chose violence over lawful protest.