Heavy police response as ICE supporters and protesters face off outside New Jersey’s Delaney Hall

By Gloria Pazmino, Rebekah Riess, CNN

(CNN) — Crowds grew outside Delaney Hall Saturday morning as a group supporting ICE faced off with protesters outside the ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey.

Law enforcement officials arrived on yellow and blue motorcycles and in SUVs to help control the crowd, while other officers placed metal barricades in an effort to keep the two groups apart.

As more people showed up to the protest, a SWAT team arrived in full riot gear, joined by officers from area police departments and the New Jersey State Police.

Overnight, the security perimeter around the detention center was widely expanded. State police checkpoints were set up at both street ends of Delaney Hall, with officers blocking access to vehicles from at least a half a mile away.

Cement barricades were placed on the street and new fence wiring and traffic barricades have been set up outside the entrance gates to the facility.

Organizers of the “Support ICE” rally had urged participants to stay safe and peaceful and follow the laws.

The protest erupted hours after New Jersey State Police cleared the area Friday night, when protesters threw gas canisters and fireworks at officers escorting vehicles carrying employees out of the ICE facility.

Protesters have gathered for days outside the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility where inhumane conditions have been alleged for months.

Tensions first escalated over Memorial Day weekend when hundreds of detainees went on a hunger strike to protest spoiled food and wretched conditions, some of their lawyers said.

During a cabinet meeting Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin criticized politicians speaking out about conditions at the facility, saying “there was only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat because they want their ethnic group, or their ethnic-right food.”

“Many detainees have been subjected to having worms in their food, and I wouldn’t say, as Mr. Mullin stated, that is an ‘ethnic choice of food’ – I think they just don’t want to eat worms,” Alex Minogue, an attorney at Nova Law Group. which who represents people in the facility, told CNN on Saturday.

DHS has continued to push back against the allegations of inhumane living conditions.

“Sanctuary politicians are spreading categorically false smears about ICE’s Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey. These types of smears are inciting violent riots outside the ICE facility in New Jersey,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement on Friday.

“No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been better treated than illegal aliens. They are provided 3 meals a day, medical care, and receive full due process,” the statement continued.

State police establish protest zone outside Delaney Hall

New Jersey officials announced Friday the state police would take over public safety operations from ICE agents outside Delaney Hall “to help lower the temperature” after days of protests that have at times escalated.

“Our top priority is public safety, and we need to take this opportunity to lower the temperature,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said at a news conference on Friday.

Sherrill said state police would establish a “peaceful, protected protest zone in the area right outside Delaney Hall.”

On Saturday, the governor reiterated her call to demonstrators, urging them to protest “peacefully in the safe areas, and work together to bring the temperature down.”

“We need to focus on advocating for better conditions for the detainees, for their families, and ultimately, for the closure of Delaney Hall,” Sherrill said.

ICE has “agreed to remove themselves from the immediate area, decreasing potential agitation from the protesters,” New Jersey State Police Lt. Colonel David Sierotowicz said during Friday’s news conference.

This followed workers from the GEO Group – which operates Delaney Hall – painting yellow lines onto the sidewalk and posting “private property” and “no trespassing” signs outside the facility’s main entry points Friday morning.

DHS told CNN the state’s announcement is “a win for law and order,” while doubling down on their earlier statement the governor had refused to allow state police to assist ICE agents at the protests.

Mullin thanked the governor for “now allowing the New Jersey State Police to cooperate with us” in a statement Friday.

“We support every Americans constitutional right to peacefully protest. No one has the right to RIOT and ASSAULT law enforcement,” he added in a statement on Saturday. “We hope to build on this partnership and work together to remove the worst of the worst from New Jersey communities.”

Clashes broke out overnight

Clashes between protesters and state police troopers, including some on horseback, happened Friday night as the troopers tried to clear a path for vehicles to exit the facility, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement.

“A limited number did not comply with repeated requests to clear a safe passage for the vehicles and took dangerous actions, including deploying fireworks and throwing gas canisters at law enforcement, that put everyone in harm’s way,” Davenport said.

Mounted troopers moved through the crowd on their horses to push protesters back, video from Freedom News TV obtained by CNN showed. Protesters were later seen pelting ICE vehicles with kitchen towels and trash as garbage littered the ground.

CNN has reached out to the state police and DHS for details on Friday night’s protest, including whether anyone was arrested.

Nine people were arrested during similar protests Thursday night, Mullin said in a statement to CNN. “Anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.

Depending on how the protests continue, DHS had previously said it was considering pulling Customs and Border Protection officers from duty at Newark Airport to assist agents outside Delaney Hall, a move that could lead to air travel delays.

“An increased ICE surge in the area outside of Delaney Hall is a threat to public safety. We know that lives would be at risk were that to happen. And I will not accept that risk,” Sherrill said in a statement on Saturday.

The governor said the state police’s move to clear the area outside the ICE facility was critical.

“This was absolutely necessary to protect public safety, and avoid escalation from ICE,” she said.

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CNN’s Holly Yan, David Williams, Taylor Romine, Sarah Boxer, Chris Boyette, Sarah Dewberry and Hanna Park contributed to this report.