Photojournalist shoved by police, impeded from covering immigration protest

Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco was shoved multiple times by law enforcement, had their phone damaged, was briefly held in a police kettle and then moved out of coverage range, while attempting to document protests outside an immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on May 31, 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.

Pacheco told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that after a curfew took effect at 9 p.m. on May 31, the crowd diminished significantly, and the protesters were vastly outnumbered by law enforcement.

“What really doesn’t make sense to me is all of the multiple divisions of law enforcement, more than I could count on my hands,” Pacheco said. “It felt like a training module: It was such a small amount of protesters that this was a time to sort of act out strategy, setting up in preparation for something else down the line.

“There was no need for this level of brutality or this police force for less than 50 protesters.”

At around 9:50 p.m., officers charged at demonstrators and press, ultimately encircling the crowd using a technique called kettling. Pacheco — who has been arrested while covering protests on at least four previous occasions — said the circumstances were particularly alarming.

“The second that they encircled us, I was ready to send my last wishes, last love notes to my loved ones,” they told the Tracker. “It felt like I was about to die, because there were so many divisions of law enforcement, and it was so overpowering.”

The photojournalist was shoved multiple times as the crowd was corralled. Then, as an officer reached into the crowd to grab a protester for detainment, Pacheco said they tried to record, but their phone was knocked to the ground, cracking the screen.

Approximately 10 minutes later, a supervisory officer announced that credentialed members of the press would have one opportunity to leave or face arrest.

“The protesters were begging us to stay and to not abandon them,” Pacheco said. “And I’m like, ‘I can’t document anything if I get taken.’”

Once released, Pacheco and other members of the press were forced back more than 100 feet from the kettle, out of sight and sound, making it very challenging to adequately cover what was happening inside the kettle and during arrests.

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

In a statement posted to X on June 1, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport praised the cooperation between state and local police, as well as other law enforcement across the state, and said the area outside the facility “remains calm.” It did not address the use of force against or arrests of members of the press.