NJ nurse says ICE agents ‘violently attacked’ her during protest outside migrant jail

A Kean University nursing professor suffered a fractured kneecap, torn meniscus, and head injury after federal immigration agents threw her to the ground during protests outside of a Newark immigration detention center in May, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey alleged in a court document.

Dr. Norma Bowe, a registered nurse, grandmother, and professor of public health, alleges she was assaulted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on May 25 while trying to help a woman who was being dragged across the pavement by agents outside the jail, Delaney Hall. Two months later, she still suffers from headaches, trouble sleeping, and mental distractions, and her injuries have limited her ability to do things she enjoys, according to the eight-page document.

“I was violently attacked by ICE agents while I was trying to provide medical care for people visiting their loved ones in Delaney Hall,” Bowe said in a statement. “ICE agents are acting like they have impunity and are inflicting harm however and wherever they want; without accountability, more people will get hurt and die. ICE must be held responsible.”

Scenes from outside Newark migrant jail Delaney Hall

The document is a notice of claim, a precursor to the filing of a lawsuit. The claim is one of 54 filed by ACLU chapters in 17 states and Washington, D.C., as part of an effort to seek compensation for what the organization says is a pattern of unlawful violence by immigration enforcement agents under the Trump administration.

“As the Trump administration continues to enable ICE agents to brutalize communities, it’s important we use every tool available to seek justice,” said Jeanne LoCicero, legal director for the ACLU of New Jersey. “Dr. Bowe’s experience is one more example of how ICE is acting lawlessly and poses a danger to everyone in our communities. ICE must be held to account through all legal means available.”

Bowe has spent the past year running a mobile health clinic out of an RV parked near Delaney Hall, providing health screenings, first aid, food, water, baby formula, and blankets to family members visiting loved ones, according to the claim.

The incident in question happened on Memorial Day, three days after roughly 300 detainees at Delaney Hall said they launched a hunger strike over conditions inside the Newark detention center. Federal agents and protestors clashed outside the 1,000-bed facility, with agents firing rubber bullets and deploying pepper spray on the crowd.

Bowe, wearing a red stethoscope around her neck, walked toward the gate and saw a large group of ICE agents gathered near an armed personnel carrier, along with protestors. The agents wore paramilitary-style gear, had masks covering their faces, and held pepper spray, batons, and firearms, according to the claim.

As she looked for injured people, Bowe spotted agents dragging a young woman across the ground, pulling off her shirt in the process, and Bowe moved to help her, the claim states. That’s when she said two masked agents assaulted her.

Two agents wearing gear marked “POLICE” and “ICE” shoved her with enough force that she “flew through the air and crashed to the ground, bouncing once before landing with her head on the concrete sidewalk and her lower body on the asphalt of the parking lot,” the claim states. She landed on her face and knee, hurting her hand that tried to break her fall.

ICE officials did not respond for comment.