Family visitation partly restored at New Jersey ICE facility after week of protests

Protesters demonstrate at a road block leading to Delaney Hall, in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday. Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters View image in fullscreen Protesters demonstrate at a road block leading to Delaney Hall, in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday. Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters Family visitation partly restored at New Jersey ICE facility after week of protests Visits were canceled after detainees began hunger strike, which prompted heated protests outside detention center Family visitation at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center is being restored to at least part of the facility, New Jersey’s governor and US homeland security officials confirmed on Sunday morning, after a week during which heated demonstrations at the site were met with aggressive policing tactics. Meanwhile, families of detained immigrants grappled with conflicting information about exactly whom among them would get visitation after the announcement from governor Mikie Sherrill and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). And local officials by Sunday had also indefinitely imposed an overnight curfew beginning at 9pm for a blocked-off area including Delaney Hall. Delaney Hall visitation had been canceled after detained immigrants began carrying out an ongoing hunger and labor strike inside the detention center – which prompted protests outside the facility in support of those striking. View image in fullscreen New Jersey state police check names of family members on list for visitation detained at Delaney Hall detention center, in Newark, on Sunday. Photograph: Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock Facility staff confirmed to the Guardian on Sunday that what are known as units 1 and 3 were given visitation beginning at about noon and 2pm local time, respectively. Unit 1 is a women’s section of the facility. Unit 2 is where the majority of the hunger-striking detainees are based, and it was unclear on Sunday whether it would have access to family visitation. Sherrill’s office and the private prison company GEO Group, which runs the facility, did not respond to a request for comment. The road leading to Delaney Hall is now fully blocked by police, except for families attempting to visit detained loved ones, state officials announced on Sunday afternoon. Protests continue at New Jersey ICE facility as hunger strike enters ninth day Read more The governor’s announcement and subsequent confusion by families followed a night of violent clashes outside the facility between local officials and protesters. In the aftermath of that, Newark’s mayor, Ras Baraka, responded by activating a curfew for the area surrounding Delaney Hall. View image in fullscreen Anti-ICE protesters gather on Sunday as members of the New Jersey state police close Doremus Avenue near the Delaney Hall detention center. Photograph: Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock The curfew would be in place nightly from 9pm to 6am “until further notice”, said Baraka’s office, which threatened arrest or legal action if peo