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Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said Tuesday that he disagreed with the tactics New Jersey State Police used after they were ordered by Gov. Mikie Sherrill to secure the scene outside Delaney Hall, describing the agency as “a sword.”
Clashes erupted outside outside the detention center in Newark on Friday after protesters defied an order from the State Police to relocate to a nearby “First Amendment zone.” The area has seen frequent demonstrations in recent days after illegal immigrant detainees penned an open letter alleging physical and psychological torture, claiming they were being denied medical care and adequate food.
On Saturday, Sherrill said the New Jersey State Police Public Safety Response team was sent to the area in a move “absolutely necessary to protect public safety, and avoid escalation from ICE.”
“I mean, clearly I agree that she was supposed to take action, 100 percent. She’s the governor. She’s the leader of this state. Our agencies are going to follow her, her attorney general, her staff. We’re going to defer to her, because she is the leader of this state. And she needed to make strong and aggressive decisions,” Baraka, a fellow Democrat, said Tuesday.
LEFT-WING STREAMER BLASTS NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR OVER STATE POLICE RESPONSE AT ICE FACILITY PROTESTS
State police officers arrest a person outside Delaney Hall detention center during a protest against detainee transfers and federal immigration policies in Newark, N.J., on May 29, 2026. (Andres Kudacki/AP)
“She made a decision to involve the state police, which is probably the tools that she has at her disposal. So I don’t disagree with any of that up to that point. What I disagree with is the tactics that were employed by the state police when they got here,” he continued.
“Look, the state police is a sword. If you’re going to use them, you have to expect people to get cut. And those are the thinking that has to go…
