NEWARK - An anti-ICE rally by a coalition of activists seeking justice for detainees at Delaney Hall resulted in a security guard spraying a group of individuals outside the front gate and calling for backup.

"Go back in your hole, troll," a demonstrator shouted each time the guard opened and closed the front gate as vans came and went.

The guard responded verbally, drowned by jeers.

At one point, when he attempted to close the front gate, a demonstrator prevented the gate from closing. Moments later, when the demonstrator again inhibited the gate, the guard produced a cannister and sprayed in the direction of him and other forward demonstrators. The guard then called for more security.

More guards appeared at the front gate and a verbal spat ensued.

The incident occurred a week to the day after the death of Edwin Lopez‑Cornejo, who perished last Saturday while in ICE custody, the third person in the past nine months to die while or immediately after being detained at Delaney Hall.

“Three people have now died at Delaney Hall, and unless Congress acts, there will be more. I have inspected this facility myself and seen the dangerous conditions with my own eyes. No one should die because the government failed to provide basic care to those in custody. Delaney Hall has become a symbol of neglect, abuse, and a failed detention system, and every day it remains open puts more lives at risk,” said Senator Cory Booker.

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport yesterday launched a civil rights investigation into Delaney Hall.

“New Jersey has both a legal and a moral duty to stand up for the civil rights of people within our state,” said Attorney General Davenport. “For people who are held involuntarily, including by a private corporation like GEO Group, those rights include the right to humane treatment and adequate medical care. We will take every action available under law to safeguard these core legal principles. We ask individuals to share their personal experiences with us so that we can take action to ensure that rights are protected.”

Today's coalition of New Jersey/New York activists joined their voices to a nationwide National Day of Action.

The coalition’s specific demands are as follows:

1. Free Martin Soto, Free Them All, Close the Camps, Now!
2. Equal Citizenship Rights for All Who Live Here!
3. Abolish ICE and Stop Deportations!
4. Stop Attacks on TPS, No Human is Illegal! 
5. Free Political Prisoners, Drop Charges Against the Prairieland Defendants and Minneapolis 15!
6. Hands Off the Amazon Labor Union!
7. General Strike to Shut Down ICE and the Concertation Camps!

One of the event’s organizers, Alec Courtney of Staten Island, New York, summed up the purpose for this event, as follows: “An injury to one is an injury to all. The way we are going to beat back Trump’s attack on immigrants and activists is by uniting our forces across the country. This is the important step we are taking on August 8.”

Courtney also said only a bottom-up, democratic movement can build the power we need to win our demands.

“The August 8 National Day of Action has been the result of grassroots organizing by activists across the country meeting to democratically decide our demands and plan our actions," he added. "We all must be leaders to defeat the Trump regime’s murderous agenda at home and aboard, and win the world we want and need.”

“The recent death of Edwin Lopez-Cornejo at Trump’s Delaney Hall ICE dungeon underscores why we need to abolish ICE, shut down their dungeons, and guarantee equal rights for all who live here”, said Carol Lang of the Bronx, New York, who notred that “it will take shutting down the country, that is organizing a general strike, which will be the key to successfully winning our demands."