A New Jersey congresswoman is still facing federal assault charges for her last stunt at Delaney Hall.
The New Jersey governor showed up to the same facility on Memorial Day with a bigger crowd and higher cameras.
DHS had something specific waiting for her and it ended the whole thing before she touched the gate.
ICE Holds the Line While Antifa Circles the Perimeter
On Monday morning, Governor Mikie Sherrill rolled up to the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark surrounded by supporters, cameras, and a crowd of protesters chanting to let her in.
ICE said no.
DHS explained why in a statement that didn't waste a word.
"Governor Sherrill's visit to Delaney Hall is nothing more than a political stunt on Memorial Day when visitation is currently suspended due to riots outside the facility," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The day before Sherrill's photo opportunity, approximately 125 agitators had surrounded the facility carrying anti-ICE signs and Antifa flags, formed a human chain around every entrance and exit, and physically blocked ICE agents from moving detainees.
And then Sherrill showed up the next morning and demanded a personal tour.
DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis didn't soften it: "This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks."
She added that those same politicians "should be thanking ICE law enforcement for removing murderers, rapists, pedophiles and drug traffickers from their communities."
The Last Time Democrats Ran This Play at Delaney Hall a Congresswoman Got Indicted
This wasn't Democrats discovering a problem at Delaney Hall.
This was Democrats running the same script at the same address for the second time in a year.
In May 2025, Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver showed up at Delaney Hall alongside Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, calling it a congressional oversight visit.
When federal agents moved to arrest Baraka for trespassing, McIver physically intervened.
DOJ prosecutors said she drove her forearm into a uniformed Homeland Security Investigations agent, grabbed him to stop the arrest, then turned and struck a second officer with both forearms.
A federal grand jury indicted her on three counts of assaulting federal law enforcement officers.
A federal judge rejected her motion to dismiss the charges.
She's still headed for trial.
Sherrill's Memorial Day appearance followed the same structure – show up, let the crowd chant, stand at the razor wire for the cameras, then tell the media she had "serious questions about what they are trying to hide from public view."
Just without the physical assault.
ICE Let the Senator Who Used the Right Channel Walk Right In
Here's what DHS says is actually happening inside Delaney Hall.
Every detainee gets three meals a day reviewed by certified dieticians, clean water, clothing, medical care, and phone access to contact family and attorneys.
"ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens," DHS stated.
Senator Andy Kim, who has actual congressional oversight authority, got inside the facility on Monday – after personally calling DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and making a proper request.
He used the right channel and DHS opened the door.
Sherrill chose the protest line instead.
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That tells you everything about what this was actually for.
Delaney Hall opened in May 2025 as one of the largest immigration detention centers on the East Coast, a direct result of Trump's commitment to actually enforce immigration law after years of Democrats refusing to apply it.
New Jersey Democrats have been trying to shut it down ever since – protests, lawsuits, human chains blocking the entrances, a congresswoman physically attacking the officers who work there.
On Memorial Day – the one day Americans set aside to honor the men and women who died defending this country – Sherrill chose to stand outside a federal law enforcement facility with a crowd of protesters demanding to be let in for the cameras.
ICE said no.
Good.
Sources:
- DHS Spokesperson, "Statement on Governor Sherrill's Visit to Delaney Hall," Department of Homeland Security, May 25, 2026.
- Lauren Bis, Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Statement on Delaney Hall, Department of Homeland Security, May 25, 2026.
- "New Jersey Governor, Democratic Senator Spend Memorial Day Protesting ICE Facility," Fox News Digital, May 25, 2026.
- "Sherrill Denied Access to ICE Detention Facility in New Jersey," The Hill, May 25, 2026.
- "Rep. LaMonica McIver Indicted by Grand Jury Over Incident at ICE Detention Facility," ABC News, June 11, 2025.
- "Rep. LaMonica McIver Must Face Federal Charges, Judge Rules," ABC News, November 13, 2025.
