The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Trump Derangement Goes to Newark: The Anti-ICE Protest Industry

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

This week, the infamous, much-too-organized anti-ICE protesters have made their way to Delaney Hall Newark Federal Detention Center, and it’s just what you would expect. Their state-of-the-art inhalers, tents, and endless supply of food is almost laughable. At least look like you aren’t funded by dark money Left-wing foundations.  But maybe some of their time in prison will teach them what the word “illegal” means. 👉 The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: http://dailysignal.com/donate 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest short videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠  Also on Spotify: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL9753340027  👉Want more VDH? Watch Victor’s weekly, hour-long podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” now! Subscribe to his YouTube channel, and enable notifications:  https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273?sub_confirmation=1👉More exclusive content is available on Victor’s website: https://victorhanson.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Daily Signal podcast, where we provide intelligence for the intelligent. Now, without further ado, here's today's take. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal. There are large anti-ice demonstrations in Newark, New Jersey, at the Delaney Hall, Newark Federal Detention Center. And it's a very funny demonstration in so many ways. If you look at their tents of the protesters, the equipment in which they wear, the facilities which they're accorded, it's been pretty much pre-archistrated. They have very accommodating circumstances that don't really characterize any other protest I've seen.

They've got state-of-the-art inhalers. They've got food supplied to them. They've got not just little pup tents, but quite elaborate tents that were that were, that were, set up for them. It's based, really, the demonstrations are based on lies. It's all on truth, and we can go through them. If the state of New Jersey had just followed the law and said that you cannot intrude on federal property, you cannot, what, attack federal officers. Some of the officers were bit, and they were pelted with projectiles. But Governor Cheryl decided not to enforce state New Jersey law, and that gave momentum to the protesters.

Second, there was one detainee who died for unknown reasons. He was rushed to the hospital, and all of a sudden they said these were in human conditions. But statistically, it's about 0.009 or less of detainees dying in federal immigration detainee centers. So there's not some epidemic of, you know, barbary. or something in these sinners. They complained about the food. There was a rumor that they were on a mass food strike.

That was not true. Not everybody was on a food strike. There were some people who complained. But ICE in the Department of Homeland Security published the menus. It reminded me of cafeteria food that I've eaten my entire life in school and universities. No better, no worse. It was fine. It was probably better than a lot of people are getting before they were detained.

The other thing that was quite disturbing is there's a class element to it. About 45% of ICE officers are Hispanic. And yet when you looked at the crowd of demonstrators, Antifa included, you can see that a lot of these, and I would say the majority are white. And because these take place often during the day or all day long, there's an inordinate amount of young people who apparently are not in college or high school. school and an inordinate amount of what seems to be retirees. And here's the punchline.

They were screaming and yelling at the ICE officers, and they were yelling and poorly accented Spanish a lot of insults to the ICE officers. Think of that. You have these upscale white leftists who are ridiculing Hispanics who are trying to enforce federal laws, and they're trying to break federal laws, and they think they have the high moral ground. The other thing that we should remember is if Donald Trump was not president, there would be no demonstrations. Why do I know that? Because this facility has been in operation as early as 2001 or two, but especially under the Obama administration. I think it was in 2011 to

2014, they typically got a lot more detainees in there than Trump did his first year, about 530 or so. Obama trump that almost every year. But more importantly, we now have about 905, but at one point Obama trump that. He had far more than Trump does now. I don't remember any demonstrations, none at all. So what's the subtext of all this? Why are people demonstrating? They're demonstrating because we're in a midterm election year. They're demonstrating because they've looked at the polls. And when they characterize ICE as a Gestapo SS type of organization, and they magnify the plight of the so-called illegal alien who's in detention,

they feel that that pulls down the polls of Donald Trump. And a couple of other things to remember. when they say things about illegal immigration, they're often quite, I don't know, fanciful. All during this week, people have hit the airways, and they've insisted one of the Michigan senatorial candidates, Al-Said, for example, they insist that coming in illegally to the United States is just a civil matter. That's completely untrue. Is a misdemeanor to, is a criminal misdemeanor, or to come in the United States on lawfully. If you do it twice, it's a felony.

And many of these people have done it 10 and 15 times. It's only a civil matter if you came in legally and you are residing illegally, then you're cited. And if you refuse to go report and become lawful, then it can be a criminal act. So there's so much misinformation surrounding this from the pseudo-strike of hungry prisoners to the inedible food they're supposedly subjected to, to the lack of health care that they didn't get, to people dying inside. It's all a lie. But what is not a lie is this is orchestrated by wealthy foundations and individuals on the left. It's a cooked-up demonstration by people who don't

have an eight-to-five job, and there is a class element to it of more or less wealthy people middle class, upper middle class, wealthy people, demonizing working class people who are trying to protect communities, especially their own in the Hispanic community where so much of illegal alien crime perpetuates that it's quite ironic. It's a paradox. It's a joke and it should in pretty soon. But as long as people buy that narrative and as long as they think they're getting traction, as long as the mainstream media covers it as some sort of civil rights matter reducts, then they'll continue. Thank you. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansen.com and subscribe for

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