NEWARK, NEW JERSEY — Detectives from the Newark Police Division deployed two undercover officers to monitor and report information from protests outside the Delaney Hall detention facility. These plainclothes detectives worked with uniformed officers to arrest 30-year-old Samuel Becker on June 3.

Newark police officer Elddy Torres filed a criminal complaint in Newark Municipal Court, which alleges Becker dragged a tarp into a fire during a protest prior to June 3. The complaint states that a plan was devised to deploy two undercover Newark police detectives to monitor and report real-time information to surveillance units. "A PLAN WAS DEVISED TO DEPLOY TWO UNDERCOVER NEWARK POLICE DETECTIVES TO MONITOR AND REPORT REAL TIME INFORMATION TO SURVEILLANCE UNITS," Torres wrote in the criminal complaint. He added, "AS THE UNDERCOVER DETECTIVES REMAINED WITHIN THE CROWD, BECKER WAS OBSERVED COORDINATING PROTESTERS PAST THE BARRICADED PROTEST ZONE." Torres also wrote, "A PLAN WAS DEVISED TO INTERRUPT THE GROUPS CONDUCT AND DISPERSE THEM BEFORE THEY COULD HURT ANYONE OR CAUSE ANY DAMAGE."

Becker's arrest occurred behind Delaney Hall while protesters monitored vehicle traffic. He stated that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent chased him and handed him to a Newark police officer. "An ICE agent chased and grabbed me and quickly handed me over to an NPD officer," Becker wrote in a statement. He also stated that at least one vehicle in the arrest convoy was driven by ICE agents. "The NPD officer brought me back over to the other side of the street and sat me down on the side of the ICE minivan that led the ambush," he continued.

Emanuel Miranda, the Newark Public Safety Director, posted on Facebook: "He was identified by Newark Police as the individual responsible for setting a dumpster fire during the weekend protest at Delaney Hall and also attempting to start a second fire there on Wednesday night." In March, New Jersey passed a law prohibiting local police from assisting federal agents with immigration enforcement.

Torres's criminal complaint states the arrest was executed by Newark police with support from the Essex County Sheriff's Office, omitting any mention of federal immigration agents.