arrow Anti-ICE protests across from the Bergen County Jail. Matt Katz / WNYC / Gothamist
Activists seeking the release of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans held on immigration violations at the Bergen County Jail clashed with police this weekend, leading to nine arrests and further escalating the controversy over Democratic-run counties’ detention contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The protests, ongoing for more than two weeks, are being held in solidarity with a handful of detainees who went on a hunger strike more than a month ago to demand release over fears of contracting COVID-19. A separate Abolish ICE march in support of the hunger strikers took place on a midtown Manhattan street on Friday, and ended when a woman drove her car into pedestrians, injuring six people. The driver, a Queens woman, was arrested.