New Jersey
Dueling protests face off at New Jersey ICE detention center over detainee conditions
Tensions rose at a Newark, New Jersey, immigration detention center on Saturday as a group of pro-ICE protesters faced off with demonstrators who have maintained a presence outside the facility for more than a week in support of detainees who they say are enduring inhumane conditions inside.
Saturday morning’s protests outside the Delaney Hall facility saw a heavy police presence, including a group of officers with riot shields blocking the entrance. At one point, a group of federal agents, some carrying long guns, and an armored vehicle were stationed outside.
A day earlier, New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced that the state would establish a protected peaceful protest zone outside the facility, citing safety concerns following protests in Minneapolis earlier this year where federal agents killed two American citizens.
Sherrill said Saturday that she was “grateful to the vast majority of protesters who have assembled peacefully and raised their voices about Delaney Hall’s conditions.” She reiterated calls to “keep the temperature down” following the arrest of six people outside the facility late Friday night after protesters failed to follow police orders to disperse. The governor said five of the six arrested were from out of state.
“To the people coming from out of state to create chaos and dangerous situations, you should not be here,” she said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. “You are not helping the people detained at Delaney Hall. You’re not helping detainee families, and you’re certainly not keeping New Jersey safe.”
Sherrill’s announcement followed days of tensions outside the Delaney Hall facility over allegations of abysmal conditions and the use of violence against detainees, which the Department of Homeland Security denies. Nine people demonstrating in support of detainees were arrested Thursday following clashes with ICE officers.
Shouting matches between protesters
The atmosphere on Saturday was tense but peaceful. Police set up fencing to establish protest areas and separate the groups. Later, police officers blocking the entrance to the facility were seen without riot gear.
Protesters rallying in support of immigrants inside the facility banged on drums and chanted, “Shut down Delaney Hall, free them all!” and “Shut this racist system down!”
Some held signs saying “ICE OUT NOW,” and a group of healthcare workers held signs reading “Doctor against deportations” and “Health care worker against deportations.”
Many of the demonstrators have said they were protesting what they described as unsafe and inhumane conditions inside Delaney Hall.
Ashley Kussman said she was protesting for the detainees who were being held “in cruel conditions and who are being abused by our government and by a private corporation acting for our government,” referring to DHS and GEO Group, the private company that runs the facility.
“I am very worried for the state of our country,” she told The Associated Press. “I support the Constitution. I support democracy and I support the freedom to speak, the freedom to gather, the freedom to live without having to worry that you’re going to get kidnapped off the street by somebody in a mask and a uniform.”
Separated by fencing, the group of pro-ICE protesters held American flags and chanted, “USA, USA.”
They held signs that read “Make America Great Again” and “Support ICE.”
“We’re here basically to support ICE and the situations and the dealings that they’re unfortunately coming about. They’re just trying to do their jobs,” protester Michael, who declined to give his last name, told the AP.
“These officers are just under crazy scrutiny,” he said. “They just go out every day to risk their lives on the line and make sure that we make it home safe.”
Some protesters shouted across the fencing at each other.
“For days, we’ve heard reports of unsafe, inhumane and unconstitutional conditions there,” Sherrill said at a news conference Friday. “We’ve seen increasing violence, arrest and pepper spray at Delaney Hall, as well as public threats from the Trump administration, and we’ve seen the risk to public safety rising outside of Delaney Hall.”
DHS said on social media Saturday that ICE agents had “been bitten and faced death threats and assaults from violent rioters in New Jersey.” The agency thanked New Jersey law enforcement.
DHS and GEO Group did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on Saturday.
Regarding allegations of violence against the detainees inside the facility, GEO Group said in a statement Friday that staff responded to a “physical altercation involving detainees at Delaney Hall” on Thursday and that, in accordance with its policies, staff used “control measures to safely resolve the situation, including the limited use of chemical agents.”
The company added that its response was “carried out in strict adherence to federal standards and comprehensive training,” and that affected detainees were evaluated by on-site medical personnel and “were cleared with no serious injuries.”
GEO Group also said it categorically rejected what it called “baseless accusations” against the facility, which it said were “politically motivated,” adding that its services are monitored by ICE and DHS.
It said its support services include “around-the-clock access to medical care,” dietitian-approved meals, religious and specialty diets and access to medical care, the statement said.
Another night of tension
The protests remained tense on Friday night. As police erected protest barriers, ICE agents who had formed a line in front of protesters moved inside the building’s perimeter fence, according to NBC New York. New Jersey State Police Lt. Col. David Sierotowicz said ICE officers agreed to stand down as state police assumed responsibility.
Demonstrators had mixed reactions to the barriers. Some staged a sit-in and refused to move into one of the new protest areas police established using metal barriers and concrete blocks.
Around 10 p.m. on Friday night, a large team of state police carrying riot shields moved on protesters after reportedly giving those outside the facility a 15-minute warning.
Police began pushing the group of protesters back and deployed pepper spray. Moments after the chaos unfolded, police approached a marked WNBC news vehicle parked near the commotion and ordered the crew to exit the car into the cloud of tear gas.
Sierotowicz said at the news conference alongside the governor on Saturday that authorities spent several hours the previous night directing protesters to move to a designated area.
After some protesters failed to comply, police issued dispersal orders at 15-, 10- and 5-minute intervals, he said.
“During these announcements, agitators surrounded a marked enforcement vehicle car and made threats towards personnel, creating immediate safety concerns due to escalating safety risks,” he said.
Sierotowicz said some protesters “were observed retrieving face coverings, gas masks, fireworks, rocks, and other projectiles” and a public safety response team was deployed to move the crowd away from the area and create “safe passage for personnel with no significant injuries to the public or law enforcement.”
The ACLU of New Jersey said Saturday that the protests at the facility “have been overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations of people exercising their constitutional right to call out the inhumanity of the immigration detention and deportation system.”
“New Jersey’s response must prioritize the safety and well-being of people — not mimic the dangerous and overly militarized tactics of the federal government,” John Butler, the political director of the ACLU of New Jersey, said in a statement. “The New Jersey State Police’s actions against protesters at Delaney Hall were an unnecessary response to free speech and the right to peaceful protest.”
“The real harm we’re facing isn’t from peaceful protests, but from the rampant ICE raids tearing apart our communities, the brutality of the immigration detention system, and the retaliation and excessive force being used against detainees, observers, journalists, and protesters,” he said.
Every Saturday night all summer, cowboys ride bucking broncs in a Salem County town called Pilesgrove. That rodeo has run weekly since the 1950s. Two hours north, Frenchtown builds its whole downtown around a contemporary arts center on the Delaware River. High Bridge sends walkers straight from Main Street onto an old iron-country rail trail. These eight towns each reward a single Saturday. You have driven past their exits for years.
Frenchtown
Fewer than 1,500 people live in Frenchtown, which sits on the Delaware River in the hills of Hunterdon County, in the western part of the state. The whole town fits into a few blocks around Bridge Street, where the restaurants, shops, and river views cluster alongside ArtYard, a contemporary arts center that runs both gallery shows and live performances. From the edge of town you can pick up the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail, more than 70 miles of flat, multi-use path along the old canal route with connections into other trail networks, so you can leave the car parked all day. Just outside the borough, Frenchtown Preserve adds miles of trails for hikers, cyclists, and anyone hoping to spot wildlife.
Tuckerton
Long Beach Island gets the crowds, but Tuckerton sits just a few miles across the bay and keeps a much lower profile. The town centers on the Tuckerton Seaport, a stretch of preserved historic buildings and boatworks that doubles as an event space, with local tours and a seasonal ferry running out of it. Main Street runs down to Lake Pohatcong, and beyond that you will find marinas, restaurants, and waterfront spots like South Green Street Park, a reliable place to fish or just watch the water. Tuckerton also makes an easy base for the protected coastline nearby, including the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
High Bridge
The Columbia Trail starts just off Main Street in High Bridge and runs north into Morris County, which makes this small Hunterdon County town a natural jumping-off point for a long walk or ride. Main Street itself is a short run of coffee shops, restaurants, and local businesses, enough for a meal before or after the trail. The town wears its ironworking past openly, most visibly at the Solitude House, one of its oldest homes and a window into the era when iron drove the local economy. Lake Solitude sits nearby for anyone who wants the water view to go with the history.
Pitman
The Broadway Theatre of Pitman anchors this South Jersey town, a restored 1920s venue that books plays, concerts, and stand-up through the year. A few blocks away is Pitman Grove, which started as a Methodist summer camp meeting ground; its streets fan out from the Pitman Grove Auditorium, where the community and religious gatherings were once held, and the radial layout is still visible on a map today. The Uptown Pitman district around both sits lined with restaurants, galleries, and neighborhood shops, so a theater night easily turns into a full afternoon and evening.
Cranbury
Cranbury has held onto its old architecture better than most towns its size, and the result is a Main Street that reads like a preserved 19th-century streetscape. The Cranbury History Center, a small museum focused on how the village grew, makes a good first stop for the backstory. From there it is a short walk to Brainerd Lake, best taken in from Cranbury Village Park on the north shore. What stands out is how complete the small-town feel is, given that some of the busiest stretches of Central Jersey sit only a short drive away.
Mount Holly
Mount Holly is the county seat of Burlington County, and it still flies under the radar for most people outside the area. The Mill Race Village district at its center is a restored historic neighborhood of independent shops and restaurants, and the Union Firehouse handles the after-dark side with live shows. For something stranger, the Burlington County Prison Museum opens up a 19th-century jail with a long, reputedly haunted history. It is the most populated town on this list, but Rancocas State Park is close enough that trading the streets for hiking, fishing, or hunting takes only a few minutes.
Woodstown
Woodstown sits in the middle of Salem County farm country, and its biggest draw is right next door in Pilesgrove: the Cowtown Rodeo, the oldest weekly running rodeo in the country, staged on Saturday nights through the summer. The same grounds host the Cowtown Farmers Market, a year-round indoor and outdoor produce and flea market. Downtown Woodstown fills in the rest with breweries, bookstores, diners, and the Blue Moon Theatre for community shows. For a slower look at the surrounding countryside, the Woodstown Central Railroad runs scenic rides and themed excursions through the fields.
Belvidere
Belvidere sits in a bend of the Delaware River across from Pennsylvania, out in rural Warren County, about as far off the main routes as this list goes. Its historic district is one of the best preserved in the region, with buildings dating to the early 1800s arranged around a classic town green. The Warren County Historical Society runs a museum here for anyone curious about how the town and county took shape. A town boat ramp puts you straight onto the river, one of the more underrated stretches for paddling and fishing in this corner of the state.
Eight Towns Worth the Detour
What ties these eight together is not a single landscape but a single habit: each one built its identity around something concrete and kept it. Frenchtown and Belvidere lean on the river, Tuckerton on the bay, Woodstown on its farm-country rodeo, Pitman and High Bridge on a restored theater and an old iron trail. Spend a Saturday in any of them and the appeal is obvious within the first hour, which is the whole argument for taking the exit instead of driving past it.
New Jersey
Today in History: July 12, riot erupts in New Jersey over police beating of Black taxi driver
Today is Sunday, July 12, the 193rd day of 2026. There are 172 days left in the year.
Today in History:
On July 12, 1967, rioting erupted in Newark, New Jersey, over the police beating of a Black taxi driver; 26 people were killed in the five days of violence that followed.
Also on this date:
In 1543, England’s King Henry VIII married his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.
In 1812, U.S. forces led by Gen. William Hull entered Canada during the War of 1812 against Britain. (Hull retreated shortly thereafter to Detroit.)
In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor.
In 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submitted it to the states. (It was declared ratified in February 1913.)
In 1962, the Rolling Stones played their first show, at the Marquee Club in London.
In 1979, as an angry reaction to the popularity of disco music, the Chicago White Sox held the “Disco Demolition Night” promotion, in which a crate of disco records was blown up on the field between games of a doubleheader; the ensuing riot and damage to the field caused the White Sox to forfeit the second game.
In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced his choice of U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.
In 1991, Japanese professor Hitoshi Igarashi, who had translated Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” was found stabbed to death, nine days after the novel’s Italian translator was attacked in Milan.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton, visiting Germany, went to the eastern sector of Berlin, the first U.S. president to do so since Harry Truman.
In 2003, the USS Ronald Reagan, the first aircraft carrier named for a living president, was commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 2012, a scathing report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said the late Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials had buried child sexual abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than a decade earlier to avoid bad publicity.
In 2022, Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company after Musk said he was backing off his agreement to buy the company. (He would eventually become Twitter’s owner three months later.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- Writer Delia Ephron is 82.
- Singer Walter Egan is 78.
- Writer-producer Brian Grazer is 75.
- Actor Cheryl Ladd is 75.
- Gospel singer Ricky McKinnie (The Blind Boys of Alabama) is 74.
- Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 70.
- Actor Mel Harris is 70.
- Boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez is 64.
- Rock singer Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms) is 61.
- Actor Lisa Nicole Carson is 57.
- Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is 55.
- Actor Anna Friel is 50.
- R&B singer Tracie Spencer is 50.
- Actor Topher Grace is 48.
- Actor Michelle Rodriguez is 48.
- Country singer-musician Kimberly Perry (The Band Perry) is 43.
- Actor Natalie Martinez is 42.
- Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones is 38.
- Actor Rachel Brosnahan is 36.
- Olympic gold medal gymnast Jordyn Wieber is 31.
- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai is 29.
- NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 28.
New Jersey
Ex-NJ GOP aide accused of staging slashing attack shows off horrific scars — and mystery man — in new snap
The unhinged ex-GOP aide who claimed she had been viciously attacked and labeled “Trump whore” — but who authorities say staged the assault and hired a fetish artist to carve her up — showed off her jaw-dropping scars in a new photo, along with a heavily-tattooed mystery man.
Natalie Greene, the Ocean City, NJ woman accused of faking a gruesome politically-driven assault while working for Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, shared a glimpse into her life for the first time since the scandal broke nearly a year ago.
The 26-year-old updated her Facebook profile picture on the Fourth of July to a smiling selfie of herself and the new pal.
She wore a knitted tank top – exposing multiple thick, pink scars across her shoulder, chest and neck.
Her dark hair was slicked back into a low ponytail, and her manicured hand covered her mouth as she laughed.
A man wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap with tattoos up his neck and arm smiled next to her.
Greene, a Masarati-driving ex-Rutgers Law student, was charged with conspiracy to falsely report a violent attack and giving false statements to law enforcement after claiming she was repeatedly slashed by three masked gunmen in a local park because she worked for Van Drew, a pol who had switched from Democrat to Republican in 2020.
Authorities found Greene on the ground with her hands and ankles zip-tied on a trail at a nature preserve in Egg Harbor Township on the night of July 23, 2025. She had dozens of bloody surgical-like slashes across her back, shoulder, chest and face. The words “Trump whore” were written across her stomach in black marker.
But the attack was nothing but a hoax, according to the Department of Justice, which said Greene hired a Pennsylvania-based “scarification” fetish artist to cut her up. Detectives even discovered a reference photo that Greene showed the artist – and her cuts matched the image exactly, investigators said.
Greene was granted supervised release in January as she awaits trial.
Childhood campmate Kristin Haughton James — who was previously busted for cocaine possession and riding an unlicensed vehicle in the streets, a Camden court heard in January — welcomed her into her Florida home and has been acting as her custodian.
Before moving in with Haughton James, Greene had already cycled through two other guardians – including her mother – and had been ordered to attend inpatient treatment.
But the arraignment quickly descended into a nightmare, Haughton James revealed.
“I have never met chaos incarnate until I met this person,” she told NJ.com. “Lives for the drama – wants everything to be about her.
“She just feeds off attention.”
She claimed Greene left her home a wreck, tried to get her evicted and falsely told cops that she was dealing drugs and threatened her with a gun.
Haughton James said she kicked her out in March. It is unclear where Greene is currently living.
Haughton James, Greene and Greene’s attorney did not return messages seeking comment.
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