SouthernWorldwide.com – New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill faced sharp criticism after attributing recent unrest outside Newark’s Delaney Hall detention facility to outside agitators. Critics, however, pointed to the seemingly minimal police presence at the site in the days preceding the clashes.
Governor Sherrill stated that five out of the six individuals apprehended on Friday hailed from Pennsylvania and New York, with the latter being a neighboring state. This explanation, however, did not satisfy her detractors.
The leading Republican candidate aiming to challenge Senator Cory Booker in November, Alex Zdan, accused Sherrill of attempting to claim credit for resolving an issue that should have been prevented. Zdan, an investigative journalist, characterized the governor as an “arsonist complaining about the fire you helped start,” emphasizing that Delaney Hall was under siege.
Zdan, whose platform includes border security and greater oversight of the pharmaceutical industry, is considered a strong contender in the upcoming Republican Senate primary. He questioned Governor Sherrill’s approach, asking who had invited the protesters and who had deemed it a moral obligation to confront ICE agents and state troopers.
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“This is your mess. Own it. Restore order now,” Zdan asserted, directly addressing Sherrill, along with Andy Kim and Cory Booker.
The Department of Justice announced charges against a 27-year-old suspect accused of verbally abusing ICE personnel and issuing death threats against an officer and his family. The suspect allegedly obtained the officer’s identity and made explicit threats.
Nicholas Matthew Scelfo, the individual charged, appears to have connections to both New Jersey and New York. The FBI conducted a raid at his residence in Morristown, while a DOJ charging document identified him as being “of Brooklyn.”
Spiros Karabinas, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark, clarified that the incident was not an instance of protected protest. He emphasized that threats to murder a federal law enforcement officer and his family constitute a serious criminal offense and will not be tolerated, as it falls outside the scope of constitutionally protected speech.
By the weekend, however, state police presence had significantly increased, with officers in riot gear, including mounted units. Social media footage from Monday showed an individual confronting officers outside the Ironbound garage, sitting on the curb and verbally provoking them. The officers allowed him to vent briefly before swiftly detaining him.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport suggested that while most agitators had been peaceful, a specific group wearing gas masks and helmets deliberately defied orders, thereby endangering the public. However, in a separate statement over the weekend, she also described the group as “overwhelmingly peaceful protesters who have been shining a light on the troubling conditions at Delaney Hall.”
“We will continue to protect the constitutional right to peaceably protest, and we denounce any violent conduct that interferes with peaceful protesting,” Davenport stated.
Attempts to reach Mayor Baraka and Essex County Sheriff Amir Jones before the arrival of state police were unsuccessful.
