State police pull photographer from news car during New Jersey protest

A photojournalist for WNBC TV was pulled out of a news vehicle by New Jersey State Police while covering a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its treatment of detainees in Newark, New Jersey, on May 29, 2026.

Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility.

Federal officers responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police in the days that followed. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment.

In a video report from the scene, WNBC reporter Checkey Beckford said that at around 10 p.m., state police in riot gear started moving in to push the crowd back, eventually deploying a chemical irritant.

Beckford and two photojournalists — both of whom were wearing press credentials — were sitting in their news vehicle, with the WNBC placard in the window.

“We thought we were in a safe area. We moved away from the main protest area and thought we would be fine. And then when state police started moving in, in riot gear, we thought we would stay in the vehicle because we didn’t want to deal with tear gas,” Beckford reported.

Beckford said that troopers “pulled one of the photojournalists in my car out and ordered myself and another photojournalist to get out of the car. We did that, started running, we were in the middle of tear gas.”

She added, “We had masks on, but they didn’t really do much to help us, and so we ran through tear gas and continued running until we were able to get out of it.”

The New Jersey State Police Office of Public Information did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

In a statement posted to X early May 30, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport wrote that state police were clearing the area outside Delaney Hall because a small number of people were blocking the pathway for law enforcement vehicles. It did not address the use of force against members of the press.