Lawsuit preparations are underway after a Minnesota woman was struck by a vehicle exiting a Newark immigration detention facility on Father's Day, with her legal team targeting both U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the private contractor running the site.
The incident unfolded at Delaney Hall detention center on Doremus Avenue, where roughly 75 people had assembled for what organizer Birdie Green of the Sussex Visibility Brigade described as a vigil. Participants were singing, playing music, and hanging neckties on the perimeter fence as a tribute to detained fathers. Some gathered near a hospitality tent; others stood closer to the entrance gates. It was there that Alex James, a U.S. citizen from Minnesota, was carrying medical supplies and serving as a protest medic when a red Dodge Challenger exited through the gate and struck her. She was holding an inverted American flag — a widely recognized symbol of peaceful dissent — at the time of impact. "I registered the tumbling before I registered the hit to my body," James told Newsweek exclusively, describing her role that day as humanitarian in nature.
Eyewitness Durga Sreenivasan told Newsweek the scene had been calm before the collision, which she called "terrifying" and placed at approximately 1:52 p.m. near the facility's right gate. Green said she caught the vehicle in her peripheral vision but only fully registered what had happened upon hearing the impact. "I saw a car go through out of the corner of my eye, but only looked over when I heard the impact," she said.
James was taken to University Hospital and treated for injuries that were not life-threatening. She was discharged and returned to the demonstration that same afternoon. Green noted she "was back out on the ground waving a flag again within hours." James herself was unequivocal about her resolve: "They don't get to win and they don't get to take that away from us," she said.
Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda placed the police response at around 5:07 p.m. "Responding Officers located a woman who reported that while standing in front of the gate where drivers enter and exit Delaney Hall, she was waving a flag before she was struck by the driver of a red vehicle," Miranda said. An investigation is continuing, and neither the driver's identity nor any potential charges have been publicly confirmed.
Attorney James Cook, who is representing James, said the planned litigation names ICE and GEO Group — the private firm managing Delaney Hall — as defendants, though he noted the case remains in its early stages.
Federal officials presented a sharply divergent version of events. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Newsweek the vehicle "was not being driven by an ICE employee" and directed further inquiries to GEO Group, which had not replied to a Newsweek message sent June 22 by the time of publication. The DHS spokesperson alleged that "rioters surrounded an employee's vehicle, assaulted federal officers, interfered with a lawful arrest, and attempted to obstruct law enforcement operations," and confirmed one arrest after someone allegedly bit an officer, adding that violence against law enforcement "will not be tolerated."
Green offered a different characterization of what followed the collision. After witnessing the vehicle strike James, some vigil attendees moved toward the gate in distress. "Attendees of the vigil who were understandably upset after witnessing the hit and run rushed forward without fully understanding the threat ICE posed," Green said. Objects were thrown, officers deployed pepper spray, and at least one person was detained as the situation escalated.
Sunday's events represent the latest in a string of confrontations at Delaney Hall, which has faced sustained scrutiny from immigrant rights advocates over detainee conditions and case backlogs. In May, people held at the facility told Newsweek they had launched a hunger and labor strike to protest those conditions, and alleged that officers responded to a subsequent standoff with pepper spray and physical force.
Informational content only, not legal advice. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.