4 detainees have escaped from an immigration detention center in Newark,
New Jersey, DHS says
[June 14, 2025]
By MIKE CATALINI
Four detainees broke through a wall and escaped from a federal
immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, amid reports of
disorder breaking out there, according to a U.S. senator and the
Department of Homeland Security.
Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, spoke Friday outside the
Delaney Hall detention center. He said he was told detainees managed to
break through an interior wall that led to an exterior one and from
there were able to escape to a parking lot.
More “law enforcement partners” have been brought in to find the missing
detainees, according to an emailed statement attributed to a senior DHS
official whom the department did not identify. The statement also didn’t
specify which law enforcement agencies are involved.
The development comes amid President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal
immigration and a day ahead of major protests against his policies
planned across the country.
DHS identified the escapees as two Colombian men who were arrested on
burglary and other charges, and two Hondurans, Franklin Norberto
Bautista-Reyes and Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez, who were arrested on
aggravated assault and other charges. A court records search did not
turn up attorney information for them.
Newark’s mayor cited reports of a possible uprising and escape after
disorder broke out at the facility Thursday night and protesters outside
the center locked arms and pushed against barricades as vehicles passed
through gates. Much is still unclear about what unfolded there.
GEO Group, the company that owns and operates the detention facility for
the federal government, said in a statement that there's “no widespread
unrest” at the facility.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement opened a 1,000-bed facility there
this year under a 15-year, $1 billion contract as part of Trump’s
immigration crackdown.
Protest at the detention center
Photos and video from outside the facility Thursday showed protesters
pushing against the gates as word spread that detainees inside were
upset about delayed meals.
Amy Torres, executive director of New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant
Justice, said some officers pepper sprayed, tackled and dragged
protesters away from the facility. She said some protesters had minor
injuries.
Mustafa Cetin, an attorney for a client who's been detained in Delaney
Hall for about two weeks, told The Associated Press that things turned
violent late Thursday afternoon after detainees' meals arrived hours
late.
“Apparently the guards lost control of them,” Cetin said. “And they
started to, you know, create a disturbance. They came back up to the
third floor, where my client is. Basically, they blocked off cameras,
security cameras, and some of them made their way into a housing unit
with a very thin, shallow wall, and they knocked it out.”
A 32-year-old American nurse from New Jersey named Kimberly said her
husband, who is being held at the facility, told her the unrest began
around 7 p.m. Thursday on the detention center's upper floor as inmates
were upset about waiting hours to be fed. Kimberly declined to be
identified by her surname out of concern for her husband’s safety.
“Nobody was talking to them or answering their questions, so they got
upset and started rioting or fighting with each other,” Kimberly said
her husband recounted.
The Brazilian man had been detained in front of their New Jersey home in
late May. He had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and requested asylum in
the early 2000s and was issued a deportation order in 2005.
Kimberly, a U.S. citizen, said they have been seeking a legal way for
him to remain in the country since they married three years ago. They
have a 1-year-old child.
She said she feels powerless.
“There’s nothing really I can do. Government doesn’t seem to be on our
side. Police enforcement isn’t on our side," she said. “They’re not
giving us answers. They’re not even letting us know that something
happened inside that facility.”
Kim, the senator, said he heard about problems related to food and an
odor in the water. Kim added that it seems as if there will be “major
movements” of detainees out of the facility soon. He said he was seeking
“full confirmation” about that.
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Protesters attempt to block a vehicle from leaving the Delaney Hall
Detention Facility during protests over federal immigration
enforcement raids on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP
Photo/Olga Fedorova)
DHS, which oversees ICE, didn't immediately respond to a message seeking
comment.
Reports of inmates not getting enough food
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat who's been critical of Trump's
immigration crackdown, early Friday called for an end to the “chaos."
In a phone interview, Baraka pointed to the city's lawsuit against GEO
Group and said it didn't have the proper city permits to operate. The
company has said it had certification from the city from an earlier
contract.
“It's one chaotic moment after the next,” Baraka said.
In a statement Friday, American Friends Service Committee said people
inside the facility reported getting small portions of food, with
breakfast at 6 a.m., dinner at 10 p.m. and no lunch.
In a statement, GEO Group said it was dedicated to “providing
high-quality services to those in our care.”
Miguel Orea, program manager for First Friends of New Jersey and New
York, a non-governmental organization that provides assistance to
detained immigrants, was at Delaney Hall on Friday and saw families
trying to visit detainees being turned away.
“Delaney Hall is in a strict lockdown,” Orea said. “They’ve suspended
all visitation until at least next week.”
He said families who have been in contact with detainees told him the
cafeteria is being used to hold people who will be transferred
elsewhere, affecting the meal service. Orea said the complaints began
after the facility opened in May.
“The families have told us that the conditions were extremely poor, that
the food service was poor,” Orea said. He noted that in some cases
detainees would receive breakfast at 8 a.m. and dinner not until 10
p.m., with no other meal in between. In some cases, he said, they
received only two slices of bread.
Newark was one of four New Jersey cities sued by the Trump
administration this year over so-called sanctuary policies.
There is no official definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary
cities. The terms generally describe limited local cooperation with ICE,
which enforces U.S. immigration laws nationwide but sometimes seeks
local help.
The policies are aimed at prohibiting cooperation on civil enforcement
matters, not at blocking cooperation on criminal cases. They carve out
exceptions for when ICE supplies police with a judicial criminal
warrant.
Asked whether Newark was helping with the four escapees, Baraka said it
was a federal investigation.
A nationwide crackdown
ICE housed more than 53,000 people nationwide at the end of May,
according to its latest public figures, which is well above its budgeted
capacity of about 41,000 and approaching all-time highs.
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said late last
month ICE should make at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from Jan. 20
through May 19, when the agency made an average of 656 arrests a day.
Delaney Hall has been the site of clashes this year between Democratic
officials who say the facility needs more oversight and the
administration and those who run the facility.
Baraka was arrested May 9, handcuffed and charged with trespassing. The
charge was later dropped and Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was later
charged with assaulting federal officers stemming from a skirmish that
happened outside the facility. She has denied the charges.
___
Associated Press writers Gisela Salomon and Hallie Golden contributed to
this report.
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