Sen Andy Kim pepper sprayed by ICE agents during clash outside New Jersey immigrant detention center

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pepper-sprayed Democratic Sen Andy Kim during a protest outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, on Monday, May 25.

The demonstration centered on conditions inside the immigrant detention center, where some detainees are reportedly on a hunger strike.

Protest turns chaotic as Andy Kim steps between crowd and agents

According to NJ.com, Kim attempted to broker some kind of understanding between demonstrators and federal agents in hopes of cooling down the situation. Instead, tensions broke open.

As agents began forcing the crowd backward, projectiles containing chemical irritants were deployed. During the standoff, Kim reportedly moved between protesters and ICE officers and raised his arms, appearing to signal for them to "stop." Moments later, the New Jersey Democrat found himself caught in the spray.

“It’s just burning,” Kim said after inhaling the chemicals. “I just wanted to try to keep people safe.”

Video footage circulating on social media showed the senator being attended to following the incident. Later, Kim reflected on what unfolded.

“What we saw here is unfortunately just what we see all over the country,” Kim told NJ.com. “It’s sad, it’s a sad day.”

Before the confrontation, Kim had addressed demonstrators and pointed toward the visible security presence around the facility.

“The cruelty that you see behind me, this is the point,” the senator said, referring to armored vehicles and armed agents. “Right now, I’m trying to have them not point guns at us.” 

Afterward, Kim said he had suffered an injury to his hand from an unidentified object and had inhaled the chemical irritant.

“I tried to find a way through this that was going to be able to have this happen non-violently,” he said during a phone interview hours later. “I ran up and put myself between the ICE officers and the crowd, and that’s when they started to shoot at us with the pepper balls — as well as using the pepper spray — and were tackling people."

Kim said his eyes and throat were still “burning” and that his hand “hurts a lot." But he added, “It’s not about me.”

Asked whether he had been directly sprayed, Kim described the scene as chaos. “It was all chaotic, and some were throwing water bottles, and I think that’s what they were kind of shooting towards. But I was in the middle and got hit with something in the hand, as well as just the pepper ball sprays just going around," he said.

Detention conditions and political blowback

New Jersey Gov Mikie Sherrill was also present outside Delaney Hall but was denied entry to the facility, which can hold up to 1,000 inmates.

According to The New York Times, Sherrill said she had spoken with relatives of detainees who alleged spoiled food was being served and that medical care was inadequate.

“No matter what your immigration status is, you shouldn’t be treated with anything less than dignity in this country,” she said.

ICE officials rejected allegations surrounding conditions and pushed back. The agency described demonstrators as “agitators” and said detainees have access to food, clean water, clothing, and phones to communicate with family members and attorneys.

That said, Delaney Hall has already dominated headlines in the past. In June last year, four detainees escaped during unrest inside the facility tied to complaints over food. One month earlier, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested outside the building.

At the time, Reps Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez Jr, and LaMonica McIver sought entry to the facility under congressional oversight authority. McIver was later indicted on charges of interfering with federal officers and pleaded not guilty.

Meanwhile, Republicans in New Jersey blasted Kim and Sherrill for appearing at the detention center on Memorial Day.

“While the rest of us were paying tribute to our fallen military heroes, Governor Sherrill and Senator Kim chose to create a cheap photo-op at an ICE detention center,” state Assemblyman Gerald Scharfenberger wrote on social media.

“This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, rejecting claims of a hunger strike and “subprime conditions” inside the facility.

“These sanctuary politicians should be thanking ICE law enforcement for removing murderers, r*pists, p*dophiles, and drug traffickers from their communities,” he added.

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