Photojournalist pinned by police during New Jersey protest

Freelance photojournalist Tom Hudson said officers pushed him against a utility pole with a metal barrier while covering a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its treatment of detainees in Newark, New Jersey, on May 29, 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, as did state police in the days that followed. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment.

Hudson did not respond to requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. However, on the podcast “A Thousand Natural Shocks,” he described his experience during the May 29 protest.

According to Hudson, the gathering outside Delaney Hall remained largely peaceful until New Jersey State Police arrived. Officers erected metal fencing and barricades, corralling demonstrators into designated areas they described as “First Amendment zones.”

Rather than disperse, some protesters sat in the street. After nightfall, police escalated their response, deploying riot gear, mounted units, flash-bang and concussion grenades, and tear gas.

“You had mounted cavalry running horses through a crowd of protesters,” Hudson said. “You had state troopers with riot shields just beating people. And it was just indiscriminate.”

Hudson, who said he was wearing protective gear that identified him as press, was backing away as a police line advanced. Hudson stepped behind one of the metal fences. Police then seized the fencing and shoved it forward, pinning him against a telephone pole.

“They were just crushing me with the fences until I was able to get free,” Hudson said.

While covering subsequent days of the protest, Hudson was also struck with projectiles and pushed over a concrete barrier.

The New Jersey State Police Office of Public Information did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

In a statement posted to X early May 30, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport wrote that state police were clearing the area outside Delaney Hall because a small number of people were blocking the pathway for law enforcement vehicles. It did not address the use of force against members of the press.