Andy Kim pepper-sprayed outside ICE detention center in Newark

Sen. Andy Kim was pepper-sprayed Monday outside Delaney Hall, an immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, as protesters and federal officers clashed over conditions inside the facility and the handling of demonstrators at the gate.

According to The Hill’s reporting, Kim was hit while officers tried to control the scene near the entrance. NJ.com reported that videos posted online showed mutual-aid volunteers flushing his eyes with water while he held an ice pack after the confrontation. The clash put a sitting Democratic senator at the center of a protest that had begun as a local dispute over detention conditions, and Kim’s presence drew wider attention to the confrontation outside the Newark facility.

The Department of Homeland Security said about 125 protesters had gathered outside Delaney Hall over the weekend, NJ.com reported. The same report said the crowd remained near the facility as officers and protesters pushed against one another near the perimeter.

Kim later told The Hill that the officers’ response crossed a line. “What I witnessed and experienced today was shameful,” he said. He also told NJ.com after the confrontation: “It’s sad, it’s a sad day.”

The protest had been building before Kim arrived. The Guardian reported that around 300 migrants inside the facility were holding a hunger and work strike. The reported strike gave outside demonstrators a clear grievance as they pressed for better conditions and more scrutiny of the center’s operations.

DHS disputed Democrats’ account and cast the confrontation as political theater. In remarks carried by NJ.com, Lauren Bis, the acting assistant DHS secretary, said the officials at the scene were using the protest for attention rather than oversight. “This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks,” Bis said, according to NJ.com.

The competing statements left sharply different public accounts of the same confrontation. Kim said officers crossed a line in using chemical spray outside the gate, while DHS blamed Democratic officials and protesters. The episode also tied a national immigration debate to a facility in Kim’s home state that was already under scrutiny because of the reported strike inside.

Late Monday, the dispute over Delaney Hall remained unresolved. Video from outside the center continued to circulate, and migrants were still reported to be protesting inside the facility.