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Four migrants escaped from the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday evening following an apparent disturbance inside the building, a senior Homeland Security official confirmed to Fox News.
“Additional law enforcement partners have been brought in to find these escapees and a BOLO has been disseminated,” the official said.
Immigration attorney Mustafa Cetin told NJ.com that around 50 detainees at the private facility pushed down a dormitory wall after becoming agitated when meals were delayed.
“It’s about the food, and some of the detainees were getting aggressive and it turned violent,” Cetin said.
He added that his client reported the wall was “not very strong” and described detainees hanging bedsheets in what may have been an escape attempt. The client also said he smelled gas during the incident.
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By 6 p.m., dozens of officers from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office and Newark Police were present, according to Rutgers University-Newark professor Whitney Strub, who posted images of the police presence and said he and others outside the jail “were all coughing at the same time,” after being exposed to what they believed was “some kind of gas,” NJ.com reported.
At approximately 9 p.m., a group of protesters blocked an SUV from exiting an ancillary gate at Delaney Hall, forcing it to back into the facility.
PIX11 News reported that the escapees were seen running near Turnpike 78 and Delancey Street.
Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka said his office was “concerned about reports of what has transpired at Delaney Hall this evening, ranging from withholding food and poor treatment, to uprising and escaped detainees.”
“This entire situation lacks sufficient oversight of every basic detail — including local zoning laws and fundamental constitutional rights. This is why city officials and our congressional delegation need to be allowed entry to observe and monitor, any why private prisons pose a very real problem to our state and its constitution,” Baraka said in a statement. “We demand immediate answers and clear communication with the GEO Group and the Department of Homeland Security. We must put an end to this chaos and not allow this operation to continue unchecked.”
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The incident comes just two days after Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was indicted on three federal charges stemming from a previous visit to Delaney Hall on May 9.
McIver was with Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka and others during what was described as an oversight visit. Baraka was initially charged with trespassing, but the charge was later dropped.
Anyone with information about the escaped migrants is encouraged to call 911 or the ICE Tip Line, 866-DHS-2-ICE .
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