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At 11:30 a.m. on June 3, an activation signal went out on social media calling protesters and agitators to swarm Delaney Hall, the Newark, N.J. ICE detention facility that has become one of the nation’s most contentious immigration battlegrounds.
“CURFEW IS OVER. BACK TO DELANEY,” read an Instagram post, promoted by a fiery collection of anti-Israel, Marxist and Democratic organizations — from “Palestine Solidarity Working Group” and Al-Awda to Indivisible and 50501 — that have joined tumultuous against the ICE, Newark police and New Jersey state troopers over the past couple of weeks.
Within minutes, the call to action spread through secret groups on Signal, an encrypted messaging platform, activating hundreds of anti-ICE activists with secret monikers like “framed.unrest” and “Wicked Something,” collaborating on transportation, logistics and supplies, like goggles, protections against pepper spray, respirators and protective knee pads.
A Fox News Digital investigation, gathering information on the ground in Newark, in secret chat groups on Signal and from scores of tax filings, strategy documents and social media posts, reveals the protests outside Delaney Hall are no organic outpouring of spontaneous rage. They are the result of years of strategic planning by a network of well-funded, well-organized groups that have once again exploited a local controversy to wage a wider attack on federal immigration policies and the U.S. in general.
The activities of this network have motivated a group of tech sleuths on the X — @DataRepublican, @Astrarce, @bitchuneedsoap and @gunshymartyr — to penetrate these groups, their Signal chats and their operations like a digital Avengers squad.
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According to Fox News Digital’s analysis, the network behind the Delaney Hall protests includes about 100 groups, some of them big names like the ACLU, Indivisible and Democratic Socialists of America. Together, these organizations report collective annual revenues of about $850 million, approximately equal to the annual budget of Newark. The groups didn’t respond to requests for comment.
About 70 of the groups have received special designations as charities by the IRS, have status as regular 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofits, as well as labor union 501(c)(5) and 501(c)(6) nonprofits, enjoying tax-deductible donations and certain tax-free benefits. In recent months, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee have launched investigations into the alleged abuse of nonprofit laws to instigate conflict, sow discord and even inspire political violence.
The Delaneny network — which one expert calls the “Delaney Hall 100” — message around shared language assembled in a strategic communications document, called the “Delaney Hall Creator Brief,” which Fox News Digital obtained from X user @b—-uneedsoap. The strategy document directs content creators to call the detention center a “concentration camp” and label detainees “imprisoned prisoners” and “captives.” It tells activists to eschew saying detainees were arrested, but rather assert they were “kidnapped/abducted/taken.”
Their tactics mirror the system deployed in Minneapolis earlier this year to protest ICE actions, and military experts say the operations resemble the tactics of an insurgency.
“We should be very concerned about the Delaney Hall 100,” said Chuck Flint, a nonprofit expert and former U.S. Senate chief of staff. “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.
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Last weekend, Fox News Digital spotlighted a series of far-left groups that self-identify as socialist, Marxist and communist blending in with immigrant groups. They included 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.
Fox News Digital observed tents stocked with respirators, goggles, protective pads, decontamination supplies and other protest-support equipment.
Late last Saturday, controversial Marxist influencer Hasan Piker arrived at the protests for a quick walk-through, wearing a pink gas mask. He told Fox News Digital that he was there to advocate for the demands of the detainees inside, remaining on the scene for less than 30 minutes before driving off.
Later, he responded to Fox News Digital’s images of the tents filled with riot-gear provisions and called the supplies “mutual aid.”
The preparations for protests Wednesday night offer a window into how the organizations motivate, coordinate, mobilize, focus and discipline their foot soldiers.
By 1:17 p.m., a user, “Pete InDC,” shared a video outside the detention facility, with a car honking nonstop and “ICE OUT” drawn in chalk on Doremus Avenue.
“Come on down!” wrote “Pete InDC.”
AGITATORS OUTSIDE DELANEY HALL SET UP ORGANIZED LOGISTICS OPERATION BEFORE NEWARK PROTESTS BEGAN
At 1:29 p.m., “yarrow” asked, “any car pools from nyc today? or any medics coming from nyc?”
By 1:46 p.m., others asked if one of the main protest organizers, Cosesha, approved the protest, and yet others started organizing logistics, starting with the ordinary: food, drinks, bike racks, transportation, parking and tents, as if they were headed to a concert.
“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 “Durga” asked for others to “like” the message if they were on Doremus Avenue, another user — “tiny” — admonished “Durga,” warning “please don’t self id in the chat,” adding “or ask others to.”
Often these organizations speak their own language, for example, compiling “otg” — or “on the ground” — intelligence.
At 3:08 p.m., “Jay D” asked, “Is anyone otg and can give a report?”
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Quickly, the communications moved into a very serious preparation for a showdown with law enforcement authorities.
By 4:07 p.m., “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 specialized decontamination towelettes designed to neutralize and remove chemical defense sprays like pepper spray and tear gas.
Behind the scenes, months, or even years, of coordination precede these events. This past weekend’s violent mobilization came after about a year of quieter activism by local groups.
In late May, hundreds of detainees launched a hunger and labor strike, igniting a wider network of advocacy organizations, legal groups, faith leaders, community organizers, elected officials and national nonprofits that quickly mobilized around the facility.
Within days, congressional delegations were demanding access, rapid-response networks were coordinating demonstrations across New Jersey, and the issue had become a national political story.
Fox News Digital found that many of the organizations active today had spent years building coalitions, communications networks, funding relationships and rapid-response infrastructure before the current protests began.
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The origins of the Delaney Hall 100 can be traced to February 2025 when GEO Group Inc., a federal contractor, said that it would reopen Delaney Hall in Newark as a federal immigration detention facility under a long-term contract with ICE. The facility, near Newark Liberty International Airport, had previously housed immigration detainees before closing in 2017.
In April 2025, the City of Newark filed legal challenges against the reopening, arguing that the facility had begun operations without required permits and inspections. Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka publicly opposed the project and made Delaney Hall a central issue in his ongoing dispute with federal immigration authorities and private detention contractors.
Around then, a small group of local activists began gathering outside the facility. According to accounts from participants, one activist started visiting Delaney Hall alone in the days before detainees arrived, distributing flyers to employees
