GB News presenter Ben Leo interrupted the programme for a breaking update in America. The host revealed that anti-ICE demonstrations at Newark’s Delaney Hall had entered their ninth day as detained immigrants continue demanding improved conditions and medical care.
The immigrants at the privately operated facility have been on strike, also demanding their immigration cases to be resolved. ICE and facility staff have since retaliated against those taking part in the protest. “I’ve got some breaking news into the GB Newsroom, these are the current scenes from the ICE protests,” he told viewers. The footage showed police officers pushing back protesters with shields while smoke grenades were launched into the crowd.
This will be unwelcome news for US President Donald Trump, as New Jersey Rep. Rob Menendez told CNN that the protests will no doubt put pressure on the administration to address the facility’s conditions.
She said: “One person had a full on drum that they were pushing back on the police. This is what I don’t understand when it comes to these kinds of protests. You are actively impeding law enforcement from doing the job that the American people that they are paid to do by the federal government.
“When you do that, you are breaking the law. You are violently attacking people that we pay to make sure citizens stay safe and bad guys stay behind the walls. They probably have gotten out of control and there’s outbursts of violence and danger.”
Meanwhile, Dave Levinthal, Senior Editor at NOTUS, believes that the clashes are unlikely to ease over the next few days.
“It’s not likely to slow down or cool off anytime soon in the following hours and potentially days to come,” he told the presenter.
“The concerns from law enforcement is that there’s going to be very extreme elements both on the left and on right, coming together, clashing and having scenes that are not tenuous and not troubling, but break out into full blown violence where there’s going to be clashes between the two sides.”
Levinthal added: “This is the level of acrimony that we’re potentially reaching and the hope among politicians and law enforcement is that this is going to be the high water mark and things will be ratcheted down.”
