The forgotten industrial estate at heart of fight over US immigration crackdown
A forgotten industrial estate in Newark, New Jersey is the latest frontline in the fight over US President Donald Trump's pursuit of mass deportations of undocumented migrants.
Tensions at the site worsened on Friday when Newark mayor Ras Baraka was briefly detained while protesting against the newly reopened deportation center.
Little more than a month after Trump's inauguration in January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inked a billion-dollar, 15-year contract with outsourcing giant Geo to transform Delaney Hall into a 1,000-bed detention center.
It dwarfed a similar for-profit facility in nearby Elizabeth that has some 300 beds, compared to the many thousands of people in New Jersey subject to removal proceedings.
At that location, many detainees wear orange scrubs even though officials insist they are not prisoners and enjoy perks like the use of tablet computers.
Bars and grilles cover windows, detainees face prison-like regimes, and surveillance cameras keep watch.
There is an emphasis on suicide prevention in the centers, with posters in group cells encouraging detainees to volunteer to return home.
In February, acting ICE director Caleb Vitello, who since moved jobs, praised the Newark site -- the first new removal facility since Trump's return -- as helping 'streamline' the president's 'mandate to arrest, detain and remove illegal aliens.'
But there is friction with the host area as Newark is a sanctuary city, meaning local police do not routinely cooperate with ICE, and the city has sued to prevent the new detention site from operating.
'More afraid'
Detainees started to arrive on May 1, Geo told AFP, sparking condemnation from Baraka, who is running to be statewide governor and fiercely opposes Trump's migrant policy.
Newark's Department of Public Safety visited the vast fortified Delaney Hall site this week demanding to inspect it -- but were refused entry.
Baraka tried to get inside Tuesday and again on Wednesday, when the location was reinforced with armed federal agents, but was turned away both times.
On Friday, he was arrested at the site by federal officials who handcuffed him.
Baraka 'committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings,' Alina Habba, who Trump has named as New Jersey's interim US attorney, said on social media. 'He has been taken into custody.'
'The reality is this: I did nothing wrong,' Baraka said on his release.
Newark has accused Geo of not possessing a certificate of occupancy, suggesting it is operating Delaney Hall illegally.
There are parallel legal and political fights against Trump's anti-migrant tactics.
'It's a local step to oppose this kind of bullying that is going on, and the disregard for the people's laws,' Baraka told AFP earlier this week, suggesting that failing to uphold the laws would result in 'barbarism' -- 'the wild, wild west.'
Baraka said the arrest of Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly helping a migrant evade ICE had sown fear among city employees.
Geo insisted it had a valid occupancy certificate for the site, disused since 2023, but previously used to hold detainees under President Barack Obama.
A spokesman accused Baraka of pursing a 'politicized campaign' and interfering with federal authorities while jeopardizing jobs in the center that pay $105,000 annually on average.
Near the center, flanked by an oil depot and squat warehouses, an acrid smell forced protesters to don masks.
'People are more afraid than any time before,' said Viri Martinez, part of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, 30 members of which picketed Delaney Hall this week.
'ICE out of New Jersey,' they chanted.
'We've heard so many stories of parents being scared to drop off their kids at school. Kids being scared. 'What if I do go to school and my mom and dad are not back home when I come back', right?' she said, interrupted by a trucker honking in support.
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