Volunteers help distribute food with the Atlanta Community Food Bank on March 27, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A new economic report identified a “remarkable” rise in food insecurity, potentially explaining gloomy consumer outlooks despite strong economic fundamentals.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report on Wednesday identifying uncertain access to adequate food and consumer pessimism on the rise in certain vulnerable groups across the country.
The report, which relies on newly collected data from the Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE), found a “remarkable increase in food insecurity, particularly among lower-educated and lower-income households and households with young children.”
It also identified “a contemporaneous increase in pessimism among the same groups, along with a sharp decline in job-finding expectations.”
The report found that between late 2025 and early 2026, there was an increase in households reporting they had to skip meals, use food banks, rely on SNAP benefits or dip into savings to cover groceries, which are up 2.9% from a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted earlier this month.The survey showed that the percentage of those who didn’t have enough food or kids missed a meal more than doubled from June 2020 to early 2026.
More specifically, it found that, of households with income under $50,000 a year, 16% reported not enough food or kids missing meals in late 2025 and 19.7% recorded those circumstances in early 2026. That’s up from just 6.7% in mid 2020.
The survey noted that 40.1% of the same subset of respondents reported dipping into their savings in early 2026 versus 37.8% in late 2025 and 29% in mid-2020.
Among respondents with a high school diploma, the survey found 10.7% had received food donations in mid-2020, compared to 18.8% in late 205 and 20.9% in early 2026.
Food insecurity, the SCE report notes, “is associated with poor health outcomes as well as lower educational attainment, worker productivity, and lifetime earnings.”
The report also highlighted the existence of “solid economic fundamentals,” such as “low unemployment, historically high household net wealth, and resilient consumer spending” despite a growing sense of consumer pessimism, suggesting “a ‘K-shaped’ economy, in which consumption growth in recent years has been driven largely by higher-income and college-educated households while lower-income households have seen fewer gains.”
It says the findings concerning food insecurity are likely a helpful guide to understanding generally low consumer sentiment, despite an economy with “solid economic fundamentals.”
“While not necessarily causal, the observed positive association between food insecurity and overall consumer pessimism, together with the increase in the incidence of food insecurity, especially among households at the bottom of the K-shape, point to a potential explanation for the unusually low recent levels of consumer sentiment at a time when the hard economic data paint a more positive picture,” the report reads.
The vast empty plains stretch to the horizon in Springfield, Colorado, the county seat of Baca County, on May 10, 2026. Baca County has received only .78 inches of rain since Jan. 1, 2026. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Farms all over the country are bracing for the impact of drought after months of little precipitation, experts told ABC News.
More than 60% of the continental United States has been under moderate drought or worse conditions since April 7, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The nation as a whole has experienced a dry, warm period that began in the early autumn of 2025 and has pushed into recent weeks, Brad Rippey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist, told ABC News.
Long-term drought trends have put Midwest crops at risk
Farms in the Midwest that produce winter wheat have been especially impacted, Rippey said. The largest region that produces winter wheat — the Great Plains stretching from Montana to Texas — has been hit the hardest by drought as well as some spring freezes, Rippey added.
Up to 44% of this year’s winter wheat is rated as very poor to poor, according to the latest data from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), released on Tuesday. Nebraska is at the top of the list, with 82% of its winter wheat crop rated very poor to poor, but states like Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas are experiencing high rates of poor crop as well, according to the NASS.
While there was good moisture when the winter wheat was planted in the fall, extremely dry conditions from the beginning of March through the first half of May prevented optimal growing conditions, Brad Fuller, president of the Western Horizons Corporation and a consulting agronomist to many farms in Kansas, told ABC News.
Agriculture experts are expecting a 32% abandonment of winter wheat in the U.S. this year, according to the USDA’s Wheat Outlook. Such a high abandonment rate has only happened once since the Dust Bowl era in 1933 — in 2022 when drought conditions were at record highs, Riddey said.
The issues have also extended to the cattle industry due to poor rangeland and pasture conditions as a result of the dry conditions, Riddey said.
“A lot of the rangeland and pastures out in the middle section of the country are also in pretty rough shape heading into the key hay production season,” Riddey said.
Farmers in the Midwest are holding out hope for the spring-planted crops. But conditions were so dry in recent weeks that some growers skipped planting crops like corn or sorghum, Fuller said.
“We’ve had places in southwest Kansas that have gone well over 200 days without more than a half an inch of rain,” he said.
Farms in the West could be at risk as well
The West is facing dry, hot conditions in the near future, coming off “devastatingly” warm months in March and April, Riddey said. To exacerbate the situation, some reservoirs — especially Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the largest in the country — are experiencing low water levels due to the lack of snowpack during the winter.
These reservoirs are crucial for farms in the West that supply the rest of the country, Steven Fassnacht, a professor of snow hydrology at Colorado State University, told ABC News. About 75% of the nation’s lettuce and leafy greens are grown in California, according to the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture.
When there’s less surface water, farmers in California will turn to groundwater, Amanda Fencl, director of climate science for the Union of Concerned Scientists, told ABC News. But overuse of groundwater can decrease the water quality and lower the groundwater table, causing the land above it to sink. Overuse of groundwater can also alter the soil moisture, making it drier and lower, Fassnacht said.
Lake Mead could reach a record-low level of 1,036 feet of elevation in 2026, according to the 24-month study released by the Bureau of Reclamation last week. Lake Powell is also projected to drop to a new record-low level in the coming months, surpassing the previous record of around 3,520 feet set in 2023, Cody Moser, senior hydrologist at the Colorado River Basin Forecast Center, said during a webinar on May 7. The Colorado River basin as a whole is currently sitting at 49% of storage of its historic average, Riddey said.
“There are a lot of pieces of pie for that limited Western water,” Riddey said.
Small, family-run farms would be most impacted by water shortages, Fencl said. They may be faced with having to take certain crops out of production or changing which crops they decide to harvest.
Drought conditions typically lead to lower yields and loss in profits, Fencl added.
What will climate conditions be like in the near future?
While it has been raining in the Midwest in recent days, it’s not nearly enough to make up for the dry conditions over the last eight months, Riddey said.
“It’s not going to recover from just a couple of rain events,” he said. “It will take some time.”
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Monsoon season is expected to start in early July and last through August and September. After that, the development of El Niño conditions in October will bring more drought relief into the fall, winter and spring of 2027, Riddey said.
“All indications are we should see a pretty active monsoon that could provide some relief, but we have to get between now and monsoon onset,” he said.
A man is dead and a woman is injured after a house exploded in Michigan in an attempted murder-suicide, in Kent County, Michigan, on May 26, 2026. (Kent County Sheriff’s Office)
(PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich.) — A man is dead and a woman was critically injured after a home exploded in Plainfield Township, Michigan, on Tuesday, according to the sheriff’s office.
The home was completely destroyed with debris on fire when deputies and fire personnel responded to the scene after nearly 50 calls reported an explosion and house fire around 4 a.m., according to the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.
“The fire was intentionally set, we believe, by the husband at this point, intending to be a murder-suicide at the residence,” Kent County Undersheriff Bryan Muir told reporters.
Officials have not released the names of the man and woman in the explosion, but said they believe “the husband” set the fire, Muir said. The woman was associated with the address, according to authorities.
Two neighbors — a teenager who lived next door and another man who lived nearby — pulled the injured woman from the home after the explosion, according to the sheriff’s office. She was treated on the scene and taken to the hospital in critical condition, the sheriff’s office said.
“We are very proud of them for stepping up and helping someone in need during an extremely dangerous situation,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“Without their actions, it is likely she would have perished in the fire. She has some significant medical-related issues right now and we are hoping for a recovery,” Muir said.
Hours later, a dead man, believed to be the person registered to the address, was found at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but investigators preliminarily believe a source of natural gas was released in the basement and used to start the fire, Alpine Township Fire Chief Jeremy Kelly said.
Investigators believe the explosion was a “domestic-related situation at the home,” Muir told reporters.
There are no concerns of any gas leaks or other home explosions in the area, Muir said.
“We want to relay to the family affected by this our deepest sorrows for having to deal with a situation so tragic,” Muir said.
A worker stacks groceries at a store in Brooklyn on May 12, 2026, in New York City. The rise in fuel, food, and other essentials for millions of Americans comes as the war with Iran continues to be a drag on both the domestic and international economy. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Inflation jumped for a second consecutive month in April as the Iran war drove up gasoline prices and strained household budgets, government data on Thursday showed.
Prices rose 3.8% in April compared to a year earlier, according to the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, an inflation gauge preferred by the Federal Reserve. The PCE stood at 2.8% as recently as February.
Inflation now stands at its highest level since May 2023, the Commerce Department report showed.
The savings rate, meanwhile, fell to 2.6%, its lowest level since 2022, suggesting some strapped consumers are struggling to stash away extra funds.
A persistent increase in consumer prices may put pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates as a means of dialing back inflation. The latest reading comes days after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh began a four-year term atop the central bank.
For now, futures markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to hold interest rates steady when policy makers meet next month, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of investor sentiment.
However, markets peg the chances of a quarter-point rate increase by the end of the year at more than one in three, well above where odds of a rate hike stood prior to the war, the tool shows.
The benchmark interest rate stands at a level between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Middle East conflict prompted the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global oil supply. The standoff triggered one of the largest oil shocks ever recorded.
As a result, gasoline prices surged. The price of an average gallon of gas stood at $4.42 as of Thursday, AAA data showed – an increase of $1.44 per gallon since the war began on Feb. 28. That amounts to a 48% price jump in about three months.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A suspect has been apprehended after a 26-year-old man was fatally shot while attending a prayer service in Minnesota, authorities said.
Khalid Ibrahim Abdi was shot multiple times just before 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Canterbury Park Expo Center in Shakopee, about 25 miles outside of Minneapolis, the Shakopee Police Department said.
He was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center and later died from his injuries, police said.
A suspect was taken into custody Thursday morning and is being held pending charges, police said. The suspect’s name has not been publicly released.
Abdi was a member and field representative of the AFSCME Council 5 labor union, according to AFSCME Council 5 executive director Bart Andersen.
“It is with unimaginable sadness and heartbreak to share that we lost our union brother and AFSCME Council 5 Field Representative Khalid Abdi today, who was shot and killed while attending an Eid prayer gathering,” Anderson said in a statement.
“Khalid will be forever remembered for his tenacious organizing spirit, his warm and inviting presence, and his unyielding passion and drive to fight for the working-class and all historically marginalized communities,” Anderson said.
“Please keep Khalid’s family, friends, neighbors, and all of us coworkers in your thoughts,” he continued. “Khalid’s tenacity, heart, and joy lives in all of us forever.”
Hawaiʻi Island police released this undated photo of Jacob Daniel Baker, 36. (Hawaiʻi Island Police)
(HAWAII) — Police in Hawaii said they’re searching for a 36-year-old man wanted in connection with three homicides within days.
“Over the past 48 hours, our island has experienced three separate homicides in the Puna district, all of which we believe are connected and involve a single suspect,” Hawai’i Island Police Chief Reed Mahuna said at a news conference. Hawai’i Island is also known as the Big Island.
“We have mobilized significant resources and personnel to address this situation swiftly and thoroughly,” the chief said. “Bringing this suspect into custody without anyone further being harmed is the No. 1 priority.”
The suspect is identified as Jacob “Jake” Daniel Baker, of Pāhoa, Hawaii, police said. A gun wasn’t used in any of the homicides, but Baker “should be considered armed and extremely dangerous,” Mahuna said.
The first death was discovered Monday evening, when an officer responded to a home and found a 69-year-old man partially submerged inside a cement pond, police said.
On Tuesday afternoon, officers responded to a home just 400 to 500 feet away from the first victim and found a 79-year-old man dead from apparent blunt force trauma, police said.
On Tuesday night, the third victim — a 69-year-old man — was found dead about 19 miles away from the first two locations, police said.
No motive is known, police said. There’s no known connection between the victims besides the first two living near each other, police added.
“These are a tragic series of events and our thoughts are with those who are grieving,” the chief said.
Police urge anyone who sees Baker to not approach him and to immediately call 911.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on May 21, 2026, in Washington, DC. Trump announced an extension of Biden-era EPA deadlines for the phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the 2023 Technology Transitions Rule, claiming that phasing out deadlines and exempting road refrigeration equipment would lower grocery prices. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(ESCONDIDO, Calif.) — A 69-year-old Southern California man known for the display of American flags and Make America Great Again memorabilia he kept in his front yard has died, days after being attacked and beaten outside his home, authorities said.
Kerry George Sheron, whose family members said was an Army veteran and a supporter of President Donald Trump, was assaulted last week outside his Escondido residence that locals dubbed the “Trump House.”
Sheron was pronounced dead at a hospital on Sunday, according to a statement from the Escondido Police Department.
Thomas Caleb Butler, 32, of Escondido and served in the Navy was arrested in connection with the incident, police said.
Police have yet to comment on a possible motive.
According to military service records provided by the Navy to ABC News, Butler enlisted in the Navy in December 2011. He served as an information systems technician and was discharged in January 2023, records show.
Butler was being held without bail on Wednesday at the San Diego County Jail, where he was booked on May 21, on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse, making criminal threats and battery, according to online jail records.
“The case is in the process of being presented to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, which is reviewing the circumstances to determine whether charges will be amended,” police said.
The cause and manner of Sheron’s death are pending an autopsy by the San Diego County Medical Examiner.
In a GoFundMe campaign that as of Wednesday afternoon has raised more than $40,500 to cover Sheron’s funeral expenses, family members called the incident that claimed Sheron’s life “brutal and unprovoked.”
Sheron’s wife, Maria Garcia, told ABC San Diego affiliate station KGTV that she wants her husband to be remembered as a man of service and faith.
“I want to remember my husband, you know, how he was [a] very good man, you know, [his] service in the church, service in the army,” said Garcia, who called her husband “my hero.”
Jim Gillie, one of Sheron’s friends, told KGTV that Sheron’s front-yard MAGA decorations had been targeted in the past.
“Back in March, people came through with razor blades and cut up a bunch of Kerry’s flags,” Gillie said. “Kerry was used to it because he’d come out here with his Trump signs and stuff during the week and flags, and people would drive by and honk and wave, and most of the people are good, but when someone would flip him off, he’d just look at me and say, they have their right to freedom of speech, too.”
Escondido police said the incident with Sheron unfolded around 2:14 p.m. on May 20, when officers were called to Sheron’s home to investigate a report that an assault had just occurred.
“Upon arrival, officers located an elderly male suffering from significant injuries,” police said in a statement. “A bystander who intervened during the incident was also injured. Officers learned the suspect had fled the area on foot prior to their arrival.”
Sheron was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said.
Officers immediately searched Sheron’s neighborhood and located Butler, who matched the description of the person witnesses said attacked Sheron, according to the statement.
Tanya Sierra, a spokesperson for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, told ABC News on Wednesday that an announcement on whether to amend the charges against Butler is expected to be made at the suspect’s next court date on June 3.
A Carnival Cruise ship is docked at the PortMiami as the company becomes one of the first to be sued under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse on May 02, 2019, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In February, after the teen was charged as a juvenile, the 16-year-old was permitted to live with his uncle instead of being held in custody. But in April, when the case was moved to adult court, prosecutors said the teen should be detained.
“We do not know what triggered him,” prosecutors argued in court Wednesday. “Who will be the next object he will become fixated on?”
The teen’s lawyers have countered that he’s a child who has been cooperative with the investigation and has shown no indication of hurting anyone in the months since his stepsister’s killing.
The suspect arrived at court Wednesday with his father and his uncle and was seen wearing an ankle monitor. The judge ruled he’s only allowed to leave his house with his uncle and will be electronically monitored by authorities.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said Wednesday that U.S. Marshals should examine options for potential detainment in the Tampa area.
Prosecutors allege the teenager “sexually assaulted and intentionally killed” his 18-year-old stepsister, Anna Kepner, during the family’s November vacation on a Carnival cruise. Anna Kepner died from mechanical asphyxiation, officials said.
Prosecutors are alleging more details about the night Kepner died from Wednesday’s hearing as well as a newly unsealed transcript from a February detention hearing.
Closed-circuit television on the cruise captured many of the movements of Kepner and her stepbrother, as well as the movements of their 13-year-old sibling who was sharing their room, prosecutors said in the Feb. 6 transcript.
The night Kepner died, the suspect was seen entering their shared cabin around 7:35 p.m., the transcript said. At about 7:38 p.m., Kepner was seen entering the cabin — the last time cameras would capture her alive, prosecutors said.
At approximately 7:51 p.m., the 13-year-old sibling entered the cabin and quickly exited, prosecutors said.
The suspect was not seen leaving the cabin again until 10:13 p.m., when he is “looking left and right down the hallway, appearing to check if there is anyone in the hallway,” prosecutors said. He’s seen between 10:23 p.m. and 10:49 p.m. “entering and exiting the cabin approximately two more times,” prosecutors said, and he put a privacy sign on the door at 10:53 p.m.
The video showed the 13-year-old and the suspect coming and going a few more times, prosecutors said. At 12:09 a.m., when the 13-year-old tried to get into the room, the suspect prevented him, and made the 13-year-old wait outside for a few minutes, prosecutors said.
The Longview Fire Department in Washington state released this photo of the unstable tank that ruptured at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility on May 26, 2026. (Longview Fire Department)
(LONGVIEW, Wash.) — A second employee has died after a chemical tank ruptured at a paper mill in Washington state, officials said Wednesday.
Nine people remain missing, as recovery efforts are underway a day after the incident, officials said.
“We’re bracing ourselves for this being the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history,” Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
“When you have a tragedy of that scale, the impacts on individuals, on families and on communities is profound,” he said. “I want to extend my deepest condolences to those who have been directly impacted by the loss of a loved one during this extraordinarily challenging time.”
Fire authorities said the “hazardous materials incident” was reported Tuesday morning at Nippon Dynawave Packaging, a pulp and paper mill in Longview, a city of 38,000 people about 50 miles northwest of Portland.
The response transitioned from rescue to recovery as of Wednesday morning, Cowlitz2 Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said during Wednesday’s press briefing.
“I want to acknowledge again the tremendous support that we have received from our state and regional and federal partners, but more specifically the tremendous impact that this incident continues to have on the victims, the families, the coworkers, my responders, all the agencies, responders, and the broader community,” he said. “Understand that there are members working the site tirelessly that have lost coworkers, lost friends, and they remain dedicated to focusing on our recovery efforts.”
The effort to recover the nine employees will be “slow, methodical and deliberate,” Longview Fire Battalion Chief Matt Amos said during the press briefing on Wednesday.
“The priority is ensuring responder safety while treating every victim with the greatest dignity, care, and respect as possible,” he said.
Authorities said recovery efforts were delayed due to safety concerns over the unstable tank, which contains white liquor, a chemical mixture used in the paper-making process.
The remaining product in the damaged 900,000-gallon tankis roughly 25,000 gallons, a “significantly smaller volume” than initially believed, “allowing emergency responders to develop a plan to move forward to remove it,” local authorities and Nippon Dynawave Packaging said in a joint statement Wednesday. The tank is believed to have been about 60% full at the time of the rupture, authorities said.
The tank ruptured at approximately 7:15 a.m. Tuesday, resulting in the release of white liquor, officials said. Authorities initially referred to the incident as a chemical explosion and then an implosion, before referring to it as a rupture and blast.
“There was a rupture, a failure, a blast,” Goldstein said. “All of those to us mean the same. It’s not why it happened, it’s the damage that we observe. Vehicles are damaged, buildings are damaged, mechanical equipment is damaged, collapsed and failed.”
There was a shift change around the time, with employees in their workspaces when the blast occurred, he said. Authorities have not found any video recording of the incident, he said.
One of the injured employees transported to the hospital following the incident has since died, officials said Wednesday, bringing the confirmed number of fatalities to two.
The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office will release the names of the deceased “when all individuals have been recovered and family notifications are complete,” officials said Wednesday.
Family identified one of the deceased employees as Gilbert Bernal, a beloved husband, dad and grandfather.
“My father was the most selfless man I knew,” Bernal’s daughter, Geovana Bernal, said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday. “He worked hard to provide for his family and he loved us so much.”
Geovana Bernal said her brother viewed images of her father and confirmed his death after speaking with the coroner’s office.
Seven other employees suffered injuries in the incident, including chemical burns, and remain hospitalized, authorities said Wednesday.
One firefighter was also injured in the incident and has since been treated and released from a nearby hospital, according to authorities.
The cause of the rupture is unknown, Goldstein said Tuesday.
White liquor is a chemical mixture of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and disodium carbonate used in the paper-making process, according to Goldstein.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Wednesday it is opening an investigation into the incident “to determine how it happened and what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again.”
A team of CSB investigators will be arriving at the incident site in Longview on Wednesday.
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said it is also investigating.
There is no direct threat to the public, authorities said.
Contamination was confirmed to have entered the nearby Columbia River, Goldstein said Wednesday, with mitigation efforts and more testing underway “to better understand the scope and extent of that environmental impact.”
The Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are helping monitor air and water quality, officials said Wednesday.
“At this time, there are no negative health impacts to air quality or the City of Longview’s drinking water system,” officials said Wednesday. “The public is asked to keep away from ditches and dikes in the city while water testing is underway.”
The Nippon facility is located on the Washington-Oregon border near the Columbia River. The kraft pulp and paper mill and liquid packaging plant employs around 1,000 people, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.
“On behalf of NDP, these are our people,” Brian Wood, director of support services for Nippon Dynawave Packaging, said during Wednesday’s briefing. “We are focused on our people. We are focused on helping our responders find and recover those things. That is our people. That is our focus today.”
“We are profoundly grateful for the people behind me, for the responders and what they’ve done with us and for us,” he continued.
Wood said the company will cooperate with investigators and they “look forward to a full and complete investigation.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stand guard in front of protesters outside Delaney Hall, which is being used as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, May 27, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEWARK, N.J.) — Tensions continue to rise outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, as activists and Democratic leaders clash with the federal government over conditions there.
A hunger strike inside the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall detention center has been ongoing since Friday after detainees alleged they are not being well fed or provided sanitary living conditions, according to activists.
“They’re given rotten frozen food, or in the case of last week, they found live worms in their food. We’re also hearing of people being denied toilet paper,” activist Catalina Adorno told New York ABC affiliate WABC on Tuesday.
Several protests have taken place outside the facility since the strike began, and ICE agents were filmed using pepper spray and batons against protesters who have gotten close to them, according to WABC.
The Department of Homeland Security has denied the allegations of a hunger strike and inhumane conditions inside Delaney Hall, which is currently holding 300 detainees. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that there were “only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat” because they allegedly wanted their “ethnic right food.”
“Well, they can go back to their country and get whatever food they want,” he told reporters. “The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want. This isn’t Holiday Inn.”
Activist groups and several New Jersey Democratic Congress members, including Rep. Rob Menendez Jr., and Sen. Andy Kim, have pushed back against DHS claims and have participated in protests since Friday.
Menendez and Kim went inside the Delaney Hall detention center Saturday after repeated asks and said they saw the poor conditions and treatment of detainees firsthand.
“These are not the people that Donald Trump keeps saying that they were trying to lock up. You know, there is a woman that was pregnant that says she’s not getting full, OB-GYN care,” said Kim, who has called for Delaney Hall to be shut down.
“There is a woman that had a miscarriage that said that she did not get the care that she needed and was left to be able to manage that on her own,” he added.
Kim joined protesters again on Monday along with New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who said she was denied access to the facility multiple times over the past couple of weeks.
The governor spoke with some of the protesters, which included families of the detainees, and joined calls for the facility to be closed.
“My request for access to Delaney Hall was formally denied this morning, raising serious questions about what they are trying to hide from public view,” Sherrill said in a statement Monday, in part.
“I have long opposed private detention facilities and will continue to advocate for the closure of Delaney Hall and against any expansion of mass detention facilities in New Jersey,” the statement continued.
“I came today to hear from families and advocates, and what I heard from them was heartbreaking. I will continue to hold ICE accountable,” the statement further said, adding that Sherrill would continue working with Menendez, Kim and others “to demand answers, protect constitutional rights, and ensure humane conditions.”
“The people inside Delaney Hall are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, and members of our community. In New Jersey, we believe in the rule of law and that everyone deserves to be treated with basic dignity. We have a duty to safeguard the rights, health, and well-being of everyone within our borders,” the statement said.
Shortly after Sherrill left the rally on Monday, things became more tense between the protesters and federal agents. ICE agents deployed pepper spray and fired rubber bullets into the crowd as they clashed with agents, who were moving vehicles in and outside the facility, according to WABC.
Several people were hit with the spray including Kim, who was seen trying to de-escalate the situation.
“Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire,” the senator said on social media Monday.
Mullin decried the Memorial Day protest and told reporters Wednesday that Congress members “probably shouldn’t have been there.”
Lauren Bis, DHS acting assistant secretary, accused the New Jersey lawmakers of conducting a “political stunt.”
“We need these sanctuary politicians to stop peddling this garbage and cooperate with us to get these criminals out of their state,” she said in a statement Monday.
The protests and clashes continue, with federal agents deploying pepper spray against protesters who formed a human barricade outside the facility.
Mullin alleged in a social media post Tuesday night that law enforcement agents were sprayed with “an unknown chemical substance.”
“Two individuals were arrested for assaulting, resisting, and impeding federal officers,” Mullin said.
Sherrill did not immediately have a comment about Mullin’s claims.
Protesters showed up to Delaney Hall Wednesday but the demonstrations were peaceful as of the afternoon.
