Messages described plans for respirators, pepper-spray wipes, goggles, protective pads and on-the-ground reports before protests escalated outside Newark’s ICE detention facility.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Secret Signal chats reported by Fox News show anti-ICE protesters coordinating logistics, transportation, medic supplies and protective equipment before unrest escalated near Delaney Hall, the Newark immigration detention facility at the center of a growing national fight over federal immigration enforcement.
The activity began June 3 after an 11:30 a.m. social media call urged demonstrators to return to Delaney Hall, where protests have intensified in recent weeks.
“CURFEW IS OVER. BACK TO DELANEY,” read an Instagram post promoted by a coalition that included anti-Israel, Marxist and Democratic-aligned organizations, including Palestine Solidarity Working Group, Al-Awda, Indivisible and 50501.
Fox News Digital reported that the call spread quickly through encrypted Signal groups, where users operating under monikers such as “framed.unrest” and “Wicked Something” discussed carpools, medics, goggles, respirators, pepper-spray supplies and protective knee pads.
The outlet said its investigation drew on information gathered on the ground in Newark, secret Signal chats, tax filings, strategy documents and social media posts. The report described the Delaney Hall protests as the product of a long-running organizing network rather than a spontaneous reaction to a local controversy.
Fox News Digital said a group of online researchers using the X handles @DataRepublican, @Astrarce, @bitchuneedsoap and @gunshymartyr helped expose internal chats and organizing activity tied to the protests.
According to the report, about 100 organizations are connected to the network behind the Delaney Hall demonstrations, including major groups such as the ACLU, Indivisible and Democratic Socialists of America. Together, Fox News Digital said, those groups report about $825 million in annual revenue, roughly equivalent to Newark’s annual budget. The groups did not respond to requests for comment.
2026-05-29 Delaney Hall Creator Brief by yourNEWS Media
About 70 of the organizations reportedly have nonprofit or tax-advantaged status, including 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5) and 501(c)(6) designations. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and lawmakers on the House Ways and Means, Judiciary and Oversight committees have launched investigations into whether nonprofit laws are being abused to instigate conflict, sow discord or encourage political violence.
A strategic communications document obtained by Fox News Digital, called the “Delaney Hall Creator Brief,” allegedly instructed activists and content creators to call the detention facility a “concentration camp” and refer to detainees as “imprisoned prisoners” and “captives.” The document reportedly advised activists not to say detainees had been arrested, but instead to say they were “kidnapped,” “abducted” or “taken.”
Chuck Flint, a nonprofit expert and former U.S. Senate chief of staff, told Fox News Digital that the groups involved should be viewed as a serious public safety concern.
“We should be very concerned about the Delaney Hall 100,” Flint said. “Protests like the kind we’re seeing outside Delaney Hall are not organic protests. These are manufactured strategic, calculated endeavors by an army of nonprofits meant to push subversive activity. These groups generate annual revenues greater than many of the cities in which they protest. They act like military battalions with the ability to overwhelm a city’s public safety resources.”
“It’s David vs. Goliath,” said Flint, who is also a former state prosecutor.
Fox News Digital reported that the Delaney Hall protest network includes far-left organizations that self-identify as socialist, Marxist or communist, including Democratic Socialists of America, the U.S. Revolutionary Communist Party, Speak Out Socialist, Refuse Fascism, Freedom Road Socialists Organization, Freedom Socialist Party and the Black Panthers.
Reporters observed tents stocked with respirators, goggles, protective pads, decontamination supplies and other protest-support equipment. Marxist influencer Hasan Piker also briefly appeared at the protest Saturday wearing a pink gas mask. He told Fox News Digital that he was there to support demands made by detainees inside the facility and later described the supplies as “mutual aid.”
The Signal chats reviewed by Fox News Digital showed preparations intensifying throughout the day.
At 1:17 p.m., a user identified as “Pete InDC” shared a video from outside the detention center, where a car horn could be heard and “ICE OUT” was written in chalk on Doremus Avenue.
“Come on down!” the user wrote.
At 1:29 p.m., another user, “yarrow,” asked whether any carpools or medics were coming from New York City. By 1:46 p.m., users were discussing whether a main organizer, identified as Cosesha, had approved the protest, while others began coordinating food, drinks, transportation, parking, bike racks and tents.
One user, “Tamale,” asked, “so if we do go should we be bringing supplies or only rallying? do ppl need water.”
By 2:11 p.m., when another user asked others to “like” a message if they were already on Doremus Avenue, a participant using the name “tiny” warned, “please don’t self id in the chat,” adding, “or ask others to.”
The chats also used organizing shorthand such as “otg,” meaning “on the ground.” At 3:08 p.m., a user identified as “Jay D” asked, “Is anyone otg and can give a report?”
By late afternoon, the conversation had turned toward equipment for potential clashes with law enforcement. At 4:07 p.m., a user called “Mason D” offered to bring “sudecon wipes for help with pepper spray/tear gas attacks, multiple sets of protective pads for elbows/knees, electrolytes” and “non-ventilated goggles.” Sudecon wipes are decontamination towelettes used to remove chemical defense sprays such as pepper spray and tear gas.
At 4:31 p.m., an anonymous user named “sqeek” shared a “MEDIC DONATIONS” list that included “3M 8246 respirators,” six gas mask filters, “3M 60923” filters and “Goggles — shatterproof, without vents or foam edges (ANSI 87.1 or MIL-PREF 32432).” The message ended with a flexed-arm emoji.
By about 8 p.m., protesters began arriving on Doremus Avenue, with some wearing black-and-white keffiyehs. Participants continued sharing transportation and parking updates in the Signal chat, according to the report.
At 9:42 p.m., one protester behind barriers shouted, “This is what counterinsurgency looks like!” Five minutes later, another protester yelled at police and other law enforcement officers, “You work for a concentration camp! You work for a concentration camp! Quit your job!” A man then added, “Kill yourself!” before the crowd began chanting, “Quit your job!”
Fox News Digital reported that the current protests followed months of organizing around Delaney Hall. The facility became a flashpoint in February 2025, when GEO Group Inc., a federal contractor, announced it would reopen the Newark site as an ICE detention facility under a long-term contract. The facility, near Newark Liberty International Airport, had previously held immigration detainees before closing in 2017.
In April 2025, Newark filed legal challenges against the reopening, arguing the facility began operating without required permits and inspections. Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka opposed the project and made Delaney Hall a central issue in his dispute with federal immigration authorities and private detention contractors.
Small vigils outside the facility began around that time. One activist reportedly started visiting Delaney Hall alone before detainees arrived, handing flyers to employees and raising concerns about immigration detention. Others soon joined, and the gatherings developed into an organized presence known as Eyes on ICE NJ.
Throughout spring and summer 2025, organizations including NJ Peace Action, Pax Christi New Jersey, Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace and First Friends of New Jersey and New York began joining regular vigils and support efforts.
The first major direct-action protest took place May 14, 2025, when clergy connected to Faith in New Jersey and several Unitarian Universalist congregations blocked the facility’s main entrance. By fall, several organizations had established a regular presence around Delaney Hall.
Fox News Digital described the Delaney Hall network as three overlapping coalitions. Eyes on ICE NJ focuses on monitoring the detention center, supporting families, documenting conditions and maintaining media attention. ICE Out of NJ functions as a broader mobilization and legislative campaign involving immigrant-rights organizations, labor-aligned groups, rapid-response networks and direct-action activists. New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice serves as a coalition umbrella linking about 59 member organizations statewide, including legal advocacy groups, labor allies, immigrant-rights organizations, faith-based organizations and community networks.
The outlet said the division of labor allows one part of the network to specialize in observation, media outreach and personal narratives, another in mobilization and political pressure, and another in immigration-focused organizing.
The report also pointed to nonprofit funding streams supporting some participants, including Open Society Foundations and NEO Philanthropies. During the Delaney Hall controversy, elected officials including Democratic Sen. Andy Kim, Sen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, Rep. LaMonica McIver and Rep. Rob Menendez became visible in the public debate. Protesters have also targeted Democrats, with Indivisible organizing a protest at Sherrill’s office Monday and Democratic Socialists of America demonstrating outside New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport’s office Tuesday.
Flint said secrecy remains a major feature of the network.
“Most everything is concealed from the ground up to their identities in Signal chat rooms, their funding and names of the people on the streets and their leaders,” Flint said. “They know what they are doing is wrong. They don’t want you to know who is in charge. They have masks on. They don’t want you to know anything about their organizations, their people. They are flipping the rules. They shout to the ICE agents: ‘You all are wearing masks.’ Meanwhile, they are wearing masks.”
“They use nonprofit status as a sword and a shield,” Flint added. “They use it to take advantage of all the rules and then when they get in trouble they use it to protect themselves.”
Fox News Digital reported that more radical elements of the Delaney Hall protests have emerged in recent days, including participants carrying makeshift shields and swords as demonstrations turned violent.
The report portrays the Delaney Hall unrest as part of a broader anti-ICE organizing model that combines encrypted communications, nonprofit infrastructure, rapid-response activism, social media messaging and street-level logistics to pressure federal immigration operations.
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