President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is pushing back after Democrat Sen. Andy Kim said he was pepper-sprayed during a chaotic anti-ICE clash outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey.
Kim said the incident happened Monday as demonstrators swarmed outside the immigration detention facility.
Video circulating online showed volunteers pouring water into Kim’s eyes while he sat with an ice pack after the clash.
Sen. Andy Kim gets his eyes washed out by “medics” after getting between clashing federal agents and far left agitators blocking the entrance to Delaney Hall immigration detention center in NJ pic.twitter.com/kgwySgWs6F
— Elaad Eliahu (@elaadeliahu) May 25, 2026
The Trending Politics report laid out the confrontation and the competing claims around what happened:
Kim said he was pepper-sprayed as demonstrators gathered outside Delaney Hall, where advocates claimed roughly 300 detainees were involved in a hunger and work strike over conditions inside the facility. Videos showed Kim being treated outside, while other clips appeared to show him speaking with ICE agents near a detained individual and later addressing protesters.
ADVERTISEMENTKim accused ICE of sending in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents, saying agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd. He was at the site with New Jersey Democrats including Governor Mikie Sherrill and Representatives Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Nellie Pou.
The Democrats described the trip as an oversight visit.
DHS said Kim was allowed inside after he called Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Mullin disputed the claims behind the protest, said there was no hunger strike at the facility, and described the Democrats’ appearance at Delaney Hall as a political stunt.
That is the part Democrats do not want at the center of the story.
They want the headline to be about a senator getting sprayed.
DHS wants the country to see what law enforcement says happened before officers used force.
No individuals were directly struck by pepper ball projectiles.
On May 25, 2026, rioters obstructed law enforcement from exiting the ICE facility. Officers issued multiple lawful verbal commands for rioters to clear the area. Rioters refused to follow law enforcement commands… https://t.co/gNACHGgItm— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 26, 2026
The agency said rioters obstructed law enforcement from exiting the ICE facility and refused lawful verbal commands to clear the area.
DHS also said officers used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect officers, the public, and federal property.
The The Guardian account added more detail about Kim’s version of events and the wider Delaney Hall standoff:
Kim said he had been inside Delaney Hall and came out to what he described as a standoff between protesters and ICE agents. He said ICE officials told him they intended to move vehicles out, and that he tried to arrange a situation where people would avoid a confrontation.
Kim said people were being tackled and brought to the ground as ICE pushed through with vehicles and used pepper balls and pepper spray. Demonstrators had been outside the facility since Friday while alleging poor food, lack of medical care, and other conditions inside.
The same account included the DHS response blaming rioters for the violence. DHS said the First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly, not rioting, and said the department was acting to uphold the rule of law and protect officers and the public.
The facility has been a flashpoint in New Jersey politics, with Democratic officials demanding access and activists pressing allegations about conditions inside. DHS has disputed the protest narrative and defended its officers’ response outside the facility.
There is the political split in one scene.
Democrat lawmakers show up to an ICE facility during an activist pressure campaign and frame it as oversight.
Federal law enforcement says rioters blocked officers, refused commands, and forced a response.
Kim and his allies can argue about conditions inside Delaney Hall all they want.
They do not get to turn an obstructed law-enforcement exit into a one-sided victim story.
The Trump administration has made immigration enforcement a central priority, and scenes like this show exactly why the stakes are so high.
When protesters block federal officers at an ICE facility, DHS cannot simply stand down because cameras are rolling and Democrat politicians are nearby.
Mullin called the visit a political stunt.
Judging by the images, the competing statements, and the rush to blame ICE before the DHS side was heard, that description may be doing a lot of work.
