A demonstrator was hit on Sunday by a driver who was entering the parking lot of an immigration detention center in Newark that has been the site of daily protests for nearly a month.
Video footage obtained by The New York Times shows the woman demonstrating on a driveway leading to the front gates of the Delaney Hall immigration facility shortly before the incident. She is twirling an upside-down American flag affixed to a pole.
Music is playing in the background and a man is shouting into a bullhorn as the demonstrator makes an obscene gesture while facing the detention center, the video shows. Seconds later, a red sports car drives toward the woman from behind and pushes her body to the ground.
Screams are heard as other demonstrators rush to aid the woman, according to the video, which was provided by Indivisible Somerset County, a New Jersey organization that promotes progressive causes.
Police officers responded to the incident shortly after 5 p.m. on Sunday, Emanuel Miranda, the director of public safety in Newark, said in a statement.
He said that the woman was taken to University Hospital in Newark, where she was treated for injuries that were described as not life-threatening. The police officials were continuing to investigate the incident on Monday. Officials declined to provide further details, such as the identities of the protester and the driver, and whether the driver will face charges.
The driver was turning into an entrance frequently used by employees of the detention facility, which is run by the Geo Group, a private prison company that operates many federal immigration facilities in the United States.
The incident was the latest flare-up outside of Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed detention center that has emerged as an ongoing flashpoint more than a year into President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Scrutiny over the facility’s living conditions has drawn Democratic lawmakers and demonstrators, from New Jersey and beyond, to its gates.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigrant detention operations at Delaney Hall, said that the vehicle was not being driven by a federal employee and referred questions to the Geo Group.
Homeland Security officials described the demonstrators who were protesting on Sunday as rioters and said that they had assaulted federal officers, interfered with a lawful arrest and tried to obstruct law enforcement operations. The officials said one demonstrator had bitten a law enforcement officer, but did not provide details.
“Violence against law enforcement will not be tolerated,” the Homeland Security officials said. “Law and order will prevail.”
Geo Group officials did not immediately respond to questions about Sunday’s incident.
Birdie Green, the co-founder and lead organizer for the Sussex Visibility Brigade, an organization that is known for holding protests on highway overpasses opposing Mr. Trump, said that some protesters who had become upset after the woman was struck responded by yelling and throwing plastic bottles. She said that federal agents then emerged through the detention center’s gates and deployed pepper spray and mace.
Hundreds of union members and community activists had also gathered at Delaney Hall on Sunday to protest the facility, according to Labor Eyes on ICE, a group of labor unions that opposes the existence of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Mark Bonamo, Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Tracey Tully contributed reporting.
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