Photographer hit with baton by federal officer at New Jersey protest

Independent photographer Graham MacIndoe was struck in the chest with a baton by a federal officer while documenting protests outside a private immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on May 28, 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.

MacIndoe told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting confrontations between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with the officers pushing people back using batons and pepper spray, and protesters continuing to push forward.

He was wearing a press ID and shouted “Press” every time an officer approached him, he said.

At one point, one officer hit the photographer multiple times in the chest with a baton, yelling at him to move back.

“He banged me in the chest, really hard, two or three times, and I was totally winded, and it was very painful,” he said. “I didn’t really feel it as much until later, and then the next day I was like, ‘Wow, this is brutal.’”

He added that an ICE officer also doused him with pepper spray that he fired indiscriminately. “I had goggles on and a mask, but that stuff goes everywhere.”

In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 1, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press.

“We remind members of the media to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.”