Incident details
- Date of incident
- May 26, 2026
- Location
- Newark, New Jersey
- Targets
- Cristina Panagi (Independent)
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, in red at center, pepper-sprays photojournalist Cristina Panagi while she covers an immigration protest outside a detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026.
Photojournalist Cristina Panagi was sprayed with chemical irritant by a federal officer while covering a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its treatment of detainees in Newark, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026.
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.
The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment.
Panagi told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that ICE agents fired pepper spray indiscriminately into the entire crowd outside Delaney Hall, which included members of the press.
“We all got hit continuously over the course of the night, to the point where it smelled like hot sauce,” Panagi said.
Throughout the night, Panagi recalled, officers pointed pepper spray directly at her and other reporters who were clustered together and a fair distance away from protesters.
At one point, law enforcement chased protesters across the street to detain them. As reporters followed to photograph the arrests, officers aimed and fired pepper spray directly at the journalists, including Panagi.
“That’s where it became pretty targeted,” she said. “They’re going to detain people, they’re chasing down protesters, and then they’re pointing and pepper-spraying press to prevent us from following and documenting.”
Panagi, who was wearing media credentials and a backpack marking her as press, said the orange spray covered her arms, got into her mouth and caused her sinuses to burn.
In a statement issued May 29, DHS said officers repeatedly ordered protesters to clear the area and that protesters refused, preventing law enforcement from leaving the facility.
“Our law enforcement followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property,” the statement read. It did not address the use of force against members of the press.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
