Protesters rally at N.J. Gov. Sherrill’s office, saying she is ‘enabling these Gestapo-Nazi tactics’

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About 60 people attended a rally Monday afternoon at the statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey, to object to Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s handling of protesters in Newark, who have been advocating for better conditions inside and outside of Delaney Hall, the federal immigrant detention center.

Over the past week, there have been violent clashes between protesters and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as well as engagements between protesters and New Jersey State Police this past weekend, after Sherrill announced the troopers were being sent to Delaney Hall to erect peaceful demonstration zones.

After violence occurred between protesters and troopers Saturday evening, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka enacted a 9 p.m. curfew within a half-mile radius of the facility, beginning Sunday evening.

Dozens of people who allegedly violated the curfew were arrested.

Marie HenselderKimmel, an organizer with the group New Jersey Voters Want More Say, said a few nights ago, a well-behaved crowd had gathered outside of Delaney Hall, and then suddenly there was chaos.

“A fully militarized riot-geared police started advancing on peaceful protesters, what the heck?” HenselderKimmel said. “That’s not what we voted for, to have done by our governor, and we want to talk to her about that.”

The governor said those from out of state were instigating much of the unrest outside Delaney Hall. However, not all detainees in the 1,000-bed facility are New Jersey state residents.

Mary Smith from North Plainfield said she felt compelled to attend the Monday rally after Sherrill effectively escalated the situation.

“I campaigned for her, I went door to door and I voted for her,” Smith said. “She seemed to be making an attempt to intervene in this, but then she backed off and [did] things that have made the situation worse.”

Sameer Khetan, who said he works loosely with the immigrant rights group Resistencia en Accion, said Sherrill must take some accountability for what is happening at Delaney Hall. He said she sent the state police to the detention center to stop ICE from mistreating protesters, but that did not take place.

“They basically gave ICE a green light,” Khetan said. “The state police were just ushers for ICE. They came in on horseback and kind of indiscriminately started beating people, [using] tear gas, rubber bullets and then left.”

Khetan said many protesters voted for Sherrill, but “now she’s turning around and enabling these Gestapo-Nazi tactics that are being done, and she has directly lied about these actions.”

He said people feel betrayed by the governor’s actions.

“It’s a terrible precedent for cracking down on the First Amendment,” he said.

Last week, hunger strikes were launched by some detainees who have alleged inhumane conditions and inedible, moldy food inside the detention center.

HenselderKimmel, who was also one of the organizers of Monday’s rally, said that Sherrill needs to step up.

“What’s taking place at Delaney Hall is unacceptable,” she said. “We want the detainees’ demands to be met, we want Gov. Sherrill and the [attorney general] to start using New Jersey Constitutional power. The law is not suspended inside Delaney.”

Legal experts said that while the governor is the leader of New Jersey, she does not have the authority to control a federal facility like Delaney Hall.

A spokesperson for the governor declined to comment on the situation.