The line of New Jersey state police blocked every exit on the street. Clear plastic riot shields covered helmet to knee.

A few dozen people were stuck inside their formation, known as a kettle. Some were protesters defying a curfew order, which was intended to quell demonstrations at a nearby ICE detention facility. But most appeared to be journalists who were just there to do their job.

A helmet peeked over the shields, which parted to let him through.

“Listen up,” he barked. “If you are press, you got the opportunity right now – and that’s it – to leave. If you don’t leave out here in an orderly fashion, you are coming with us.”

He pointed to someone in the group and snapped: “You are not press.”

Under the city of Newark’s curfew, journalists were exempt if they displayed “verified credentials”. But what counted as verified? And who got to decide?

Media workers had descended on Delaney Hall to document an ongoing hunger strike by ICE detainees over dangerous conditions inside. As protests swelled in surrounding streets, law enforcement’s response contributed to dangerous conditions outside.

In one week, the US Press Freedom Tracker documented 30 assaults by officers on journalists near the facility. ICE doused several photographers with pepper spray and beat them with batons.

On the street, constitutional protections for those livestreamers can boil down to an officer’s snap decision

State police yanked a WNBC........

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