OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:00 AM – Friday, June 13, 2025

At least four detained illegal immigrants escaped from the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday — following a reported “riot” that ensued within the facility. A manhunt has now been initiated.

According to an unnamed Homeland Security official, who was cited by Fox News, approximately 50 detainees, reportedly angered by their delayed free meal service, managed to breach a dormitory wall, enabling several individuals to escape.

“Additional law enforcement partners have been brought in to find these escapees and a BOLO has been disseminated,” the official stated.

“It’s about the food, and some of the detainees were getting aggressive and it turned violent,” stated immigration attorney Mustafa Cetin.

Cetin represents one illegal alien in the detention center, who detailed the escape.

“Based on what he told me, it was an outer wall, not very strong, and they were able to push it down.”

He also revealed that some of the migrants may have escaped by fashioning a rope out of bedsheets to descend from their dormitory.

Meanwhile, Democrat Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, who was previously detained himself in early May at an ICE detention center — where Democrat Congressional lawmakers had planned an afternoon “oversight visit” in response to calls from their left-wing constituents.

Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center,” U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba stated at the time.

Most recently, the mayor has argued that the city needs to be allowed oversight of the facility.

“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, and why private prisons pose a very real problem to our state and its constitution,” Baraka stated.

“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,” he added.

The incident also follows after Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) was indicted on multiple federal charges of “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers” stemming from a visit to the facility — the same visit that resulted in Baraka’s arrest.

Groups of protestors could be seen outside of the facility on Thursday evening, blocking an SUV from exiting and ultimately forcing it back into the facility.

Regarding the manhunt for the escapees, a senior Department of Homeland Security official stated: “We encourage the public to call 911 or the ICE Tip Line: 866-DHS-2-ICE if they have information that may lead to the locating of these individuals.”

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