Rioters threw wooden pallets and mattresses at federal agents outside a New Jersey detention center Wednesday night.
Now DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is threatening the one thing that will actually get Democrats' attention.
If Sherrill doesn't back down, Newark Airport goes dark for international flights.
Five Nights of Riots While Sherrill Blocks the Police
This wasn't a protest.
Keffiyeh-clad agitators packed the perimeter outside Delaney Hall in Newark with cement blocks and sandbags, the fifth consecutive night of escalating violence against federal agents.
Video obtained by Fox News shows the crowd hurling mattresses and wooden pallets at ICE officers while screaming "kill yourself, bro!" at the men and women enforcing federal law.
These weren't spontaneous citizens outraged by injustice.
They came organized, equipped, and masked – with traffic cones as shields and enough rage to block an entire industrial corridor so truck drivers couldn't get through.
One driver climbed out of his cab and confronted the mob: "Come on! What's wrong with y'all?"
Good question.
ICE agents deployed pepper spray, pepper balls, and batons to hold the line.
The night before, the mob sprayed federal officers with an unknown chemical substance.
"ICE law enforcement officers were assaulted by anti-ICE rioters who sprayed law enforcement with an unknown chemical substance," Mullin wrote on X.
https://twitter.com/SecMullinDHS/status/2059467796510113903?s=20
Two arrests were made.
That's because, according to Mullin, Sherrill has been blocking local and state police from responding – leaving federal agents to handle the siege alone.
Mullin's Warning Is Not a Bluff
Mullin went on Fox & Friends Thursday morning and laid it out.
"I know the law enforcement there would love to respond, but because of Governor Sherrill's behavior, she's not allowing public officers and state officers to respond," he said.
So Mullin is doing the math.
If New Jersey refuses to support federal law enforcement, why should federal agents process international flights at Newark Airport?
"If they're not allowing it then we gotta prioritize federal police officers and that may affect international flights coming in and out of their airport," he said. "Because I'm gonna have to pull Customs and Border Protection officers out of being able to process international flights and put them helping our ICE agents."
This isn't a rhetorical threat.
DHS is drawing up actual plans – and pulling CBP from Newark means no customs agents, which means no international arrivals.
New Jersey Democrats chose this.
Andy Kim Flew to Newark to Photograph a Milk Carton
Delaney Hall has been a Democrat target since Trump reopened it in 2025 – his first federal detention center of his second term.
Newark's Democrat mayor was arrested for trespassing outside the same facility in May 2025, though charges were later dropped.
Four detainees escaped last June after a detainee uprising inside.
The left-wing protests outside Delaney Hall have been escalating ever since – and after Charlie Kirk's assassination last September, Trump has made clear that organized violence against federal agents isn't a protest, it's a crime.
Democrats haven't gotten the message.
Every time they escalate, they get more cameras, more fundraising emails, more viral moments – and federal law enforcement gets assaulted.
This week, Sen. Andy Kim flew down on Memorial Day for his own political theater moment, touring the facility and citing a milk carton set to expire the following day as proof of "unacceptable" conditions.
Mullin didn't let it slide: "It's unfortunate that Senator Andy Kim is spreading this FALSE narrative and adding fuel to the fire for no other reason than political theater. This isn't a Holiday Inn. Illegal aliens are at this detention facility because they broke our nation's laws."
https://twitter.com/SecMullinDHS/status/2060030792433115461?s=20
DHS says every detainee gets three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, and phone access to family and lawyers.
The milk carton had another full day before it expired.
That's what passed for a federal investigation.
Meanwhile, Kim's own constituents – truck drivers – couldn't get to work because the mob he came to validate was blocking the road.
Sherrill and Kim turned Delaney Hall into a political circus, handed rioters a national stage, and then acted outraged when agents had to defend themselves against chemical attacks.
Mullin's airport move is the right call.
Sanctuary cities want federal services – customs agents, flight processing, airport infrastructure – while their politicians actively obstruct the federal officers providing them.
That deal is over.
Sources:
- Robert McGreevy, "Anti-ICE agitators throw wooden pallets, mattresses at federal agents during chaotic NJ detention center clash," Fox News, May 28, 2026.
- Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_), X post on Mullin airport CBP plans, May 27, 2026.
- "This Isn't Holiday Inn: Markwayne Mullin Mocks NJ Protesters, Teases Major Airport Crackdown," RedState, May 27, 2026.
- "DHS torches NJ politicians amid growing Delaney Hall showdown," NJ1015, May 27, 2026.
- "Markwayne Mullin says DHS may halt international flight processing in sanctuary cities," The Hill, May 27, 2026.
