Photojournalist knocked to ground at protest; gear damaged

EPA Images photojournalist Olga Fedorova was repeatedly shoved to the ground and threatened with batons by federal officers while covering protests outside a federal detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on May 27, 2026. One of her lens filters and her gas mask were damaged in the process.

Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility.

Federal officers responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police in the days that followed.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment.

Fedorova told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she had been covering the demonstrations outside the detention facility for several days, and that federal officers were utilizing chemical irritants and what she described as “full-body contact.”

“I was just continuously pepper-sprayed all the time,” she said, adding that she was keeping herself apart from protesters. “Every time I tried to get close to the protesters, agents would threaten me with batons, and I was actually told, ‘Get back, or I’ll hit you.’”

Throughout the day and into the night, Fedorova said, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would push protesters back, with some veering off and pushing members of the press as well.

“I weigh 110 pounds, so every time they tackled me like a linebacker, I would be flying back,” she told the Tracker. “I was falling to the ground more times than I can imagine. And one of those times, I guess my camera hit the ground.”

Fedorova said the lens filter on her camera shattered, but she can’t be certain it wasn’t broken when officers were swinging their batons.

“I didn’t realize that my filter had shattered. It was only after I realized that there were all these artifacts in my photos that came from there being broken glass right in front of the lens element,” she continued. “If I didn’t have a filter on that lens, obviously it would have been destroyed.”

Fedorova added that because she didn’t realize the filter had broken, she placed her camera into her bag and later opened it to find it covered with broken glass.

The photojournalist’s gas mask was also damaged during her coverage that day, and she said that with the filter broken off, it is now operable only as a face shield.

In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 1, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press.

“We remind members of the media to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.”