In recent days, chaos and escape incidents occurred at the Delaney Hall, a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark, New Jersey. Four undocumented immigrants managed to escape from the facility on June 13 (Friday), leading to a large-scale law enforcement manhunt. As of now, two individuals have been apprehended, while the other two remain at large.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have confirmed the capture of the two fugitives. Joel Enrique Sandoval-Lopez from Honduras was arrested in Passaic by the FBI and ICE on Saturday (14th), while Joan Sebastian Castaneda-Lozada from Colombia was captured on Sunday (15th).
The two individuals still on the run are Franklin Norberto Bautista-Reyes from Honduras and Andres Felipe Pineda-Mogollon from Colombia. The FBI initially offered a reward of $10,000 for each of them, which was later increased to $25,000 on Monday, seeking information from the public.
The incident took place late Thursday night at the ICE detention center operated by the private company GEO Group. Initial reports suggested that up to 50 immigrants were involved in the disturbance due to delayed meals and overcrowding issues at the facility, leading to chaos in the facility’s order. However, the Department of Homeland Security later denied the claims of a “large-scale riot,” emphasizing that there was no widespread disturbance on that day.
Delaney Hall was reopened in February this year with a capacity of 1,000 beds, providing additional space for the federal immigration detention system in the eastern United States. In May, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was briefly detained for participating in a protest against operational issues at the center but was released without charges.