Justin Giron

Newark Penn Station. I walked out and headed down through the Ironbound toward Doremus Avenue, camera in hand.

The walking route from Penn Station to Delaney Hall took me through immigrant neighborhoods. Delaney Hall held food-striking immigrants detained by ICE.

Near the facility, a group of mutual aid volunteers — people who bring food and water to families waiting to visit detainees — stopped me. Hoodie, mask, backpack: I looked like exactly the kind of person they had reason to be wary of. There’s no photograph of that moment. You can’t shoot yourself mid-confrontation.

The walk back passed through more of the same derelict blight — abandoned lots, gutted buildings, a burned bus at the end of a row of intact ones. Then came the cats.

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1. Newark Penn

A rail lift-bridge stands near Newark Penn Station, photographed from street level.

2. Little Tijuana

“Little Tijuana” mural marks the corner a few blocks past Penn Station, before the walk turns toward the Ironbound and Portugalia.

3. Sgt. Humberto F. Timoteo Plaza

A street sign marks Sgt. Humberto F. Timoteo Plaza.

4. Ironbound — Portugalia

A sign for Portugalia Cervejaria e Restaurante hangs on a corner building in Newark’s Ironbound section, repeated on the awning below.

5. The notebook

A notebook page shows a date, a circled tally, the word “AMTRAK,” and the notation “Penn St. Newark, NJ.”

6. HELEMENT / Little Murder

A Fraternal Order of Police member medallion hangs by suction cup from the windshield of a privately owned vehicle, nicknamed “Little Murder” and “HELEMENT” in tailgate lettering.

A placard on the same windshield reads: “Newark New Jersey Police Department. This vehicle is parked in connection with official police business.”

The tailgate reads “HELEMENT” — the Honda “H” badge pushed flush against the factory “ELEMENT” lettering — with “Little Murder” in script beside it. The license plate has been blurred.

7. Transit

Riders sit inside a New Jersey Transit bus.

8. Observe & Report

An advertisement on a New Jersey Transit bus reads “Observe & Report,” purchased with funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

9. Raimundo

Raimundo, in silhouette, walks beneath an overpass past a “Drivers Wanted, Class A” sign.

Raimundo carries a longboard past a highway sign for Doremus Ave., Second Right, walking the freeway interchange between Newark and Bayonne.

10. Flag in the wire

A forklift raises an American flag, backlit by sun flare against the sky.

A chain-link fence, close, with wrecked cars visible in a salvage yard beyond.

11. Teamster sign

A sign reading “Time to Organize? TeamstersLocal641.com” hangs on a barbed-wire-topped chain-link fence, trucks parked beyond it.

12. Flag, verticals

An American flag flies from a pole beside a utility pole, with smaller flags visible on a row of yard cranes in the distance.

13. Mutual aid

Members of a mutual aid group that brings food and water to family members waiting outside Delaney Hall talk near a parked truck. Faces of bystanders have been blurred to protect their identities.

14. Walk back

A billboard reading “I Got Hurt In Jersey.com” stands above a graffiti-covered wall.

A burned and gutted transit bus sits at the end of a long row of intact buses at a depot.

15. Cat colony

A cat walks along a fenced sidewalk, with parked cars and a fire hydrant ahead.

A hand offers food to one of the cats on a sidewalk.

A cat sits at the base of a chain-link fence. Closing frame.