New Jersey state police in riot gear launched tear gas at protesters over the weekend as part of an aggressive response to protests in support of an ongoing hunger strike inside the Delaney Hall immigration jail. But Monday brought some good news: An 18-year-old high school senior, who’d missed her prom and graduation because she was behind bars at the notorious facility, was finally released.

Ariadna Zumba had spent nearly two months in Delaney Hall, despite having no criminal record, her attorney Sterling Santamaria told HuffPost. In fact, she was approved for what’s known as special immigrant juvenile status, a category of vulnerable young people who can pursue a pathway to permanent residency that should have protected her from an immigration arrest, Sterling said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to HuffPost’s questions about why Zumba was arrested.

Zumba’s mother was outside the facility when her daughter was released, and urged others: “Raise your voice, I know that you can.” She nodded to her daughter: “Here is proof that it is possible ... don’t give up.”

Organizers fighting to close the immigration jail and release its detainees saw Zumba’s release as a victory worth celebrating — but the larger fight is ongoing. Delaney Hall in Newark, which is operated by private prison giant GEO Group, has become a focal point of the Trump administration’s mass detention immigration agenda, with state and federal law enforcement clashing with protesters on the ground.

Hundreds of detainees, including Zumba, have reportedly participated in a hunger and labor strike that began May 22. They say conditions are abhorrent. A series of letters signed by hundreds of detainees has described medical neglect, legal abuses, and monthslong detentions — even for those who have opted to accept voluntary deportation.

Strikers are demanding they be released from detention and are particularly fighting for the release of elderly, young and medically vulnerable detainees. They’ve also demanded a meeting with Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D), who hasn’t met with detainees yet, and an end to coercive efforts to get them to sign voluntary deportation papers — a common practice in immigration custody, in which ICE agents leverage the misery of detention to pressure people to give up their legal fight to stay in the country. (A spokesperson for Sherrill said she “shares the goal of meeting with the detainees,” and that she was denied entry by the facility when she attempted to visit.)

Scores of protesters have flocked to the detention center in recent weeks. Federal agents fought back, using chemical irritants liberally and allegedly targeting members of the media.

“It was getting really dicey,” said Sister Susan Francois, a sister of St. Joseph of Peace and a member of the Eyes on ICE New Jersey Coalition. Francois noted that tear gas contaminated the supplies in a key mutual aid tent that’s been outside Delaney Hall for months.

On Friday, Sherrill called in New Jersey state police — a move the Trump administration counted as a win — to replace the federal agents in dealing with protesters. They, in turn, deployed tear gas and kettled protesters who defied Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s curfew for the area. Dozens were ultimately arrested on Sunday.

Contrary to Trump administration propaganda about immigration detainees, the vast majority of people at Delaney Hall have no criminal convictions, and a large majority have no criminal history whatsoever, the researcher Austin Kocher found based on a review of detention data. Kocher added that the vast majority of detainees are classified by ICE itself under its lowest security level. What’s more, the vast majority of detainees do not have a final deportation order, but rather are being detained while their immigration proceedings are ongoing — a process that past administrations would have typically allowed them to pursue outside of custody.

Mutual aid has been a significant part of local pushback to what’s happening inside Delaney Hall. Since last year, volunteers have run an aid tent, providing food, children’s toys and clothes that meet Delaney Hall’s dress code to detainees’ visiting families. They’ve also helped released detainees contact family and arrange to be picked up in the remote industrial area.

But on Monday, volunteers found the aid tent had been ransacked, and it appeared to have been searched by the FBI and ICE.

“The radical hospitality tent was trashed,” the group Pax Christi New Jersey, a key contributor to the mutual aid efforts, posted on Instagram, noting that federal agents were spotted in the tent on Sunday.

Volunteers, including detainees’ family members, are working to continue their mutual aid efforts in the face of an overwhelming police response, which includes checkpoints near the facility.

The FBI declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in an email, “Our ICE operations continue undeterred — now tent free.”

“Another day, another hoax about ICE,” the spokesperson added, denying altogether that there was a hunger strike at Delaney Hall and asserting, “No detainees are being beaten or abused.”

The pressure seems to be spurring some high-level action. New Jersey’s health commissioner filed suit against Delaney Hall on Tuesday, saying it had allowed only “severely limited” access to state health inspectors. The city of Newark has hinted at similar action. And now, city police will exercise “a greater span of control” around the detention facility, Baraka said, meaning state police could take a backseat when it comes to crowd control. He said later that he plans to lift the curfew either Tuesday or Wednesday night.

Francois, of St. Joseph of Peace, said organizers intended “to stand for humanity, against cruelty for profit.”

“The mission is to close down Delaney Hall, to respect the human rights that all human beings have — no matter what their legal status is,” she said. “We’re seeking a humane response to something that is as close to evil as I’ve ever seen.”

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