The protester who was hit by a car outside the Delaney Hall immigration jail in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday said she’s still looking for the driver who rammed into her — and that no one from law enforcement has been in touch about the incident.

Alex James, whose legal name is Alex Pride, was hit by the driver of what appeared to be a red Dodge Charger as she waved an upside-down American flag near the entrance of the infamous immigration jail. Protesters and family members of detainees had gathered outside the facility to mark Father’s Day.

James, still shaken from the incident, told HuffPost in a phone interview Tuesday that she and her attorney were attempting to identify the driver in order to pursue a lawsuit against them.

“I saw a red sports car whiz past as I was tumbling,” James recounted. “I realized, ‘Oh hey, I’m being hit!’”

Protesters occasionally intentionally obstruct the driveway leading into Delaney Hall’s employee parking lot as they heckle Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or employees of GEO Group, the private prison contractor that runs the site. But James said she would have simply moved out of the car’s way if she’d known it was behind her.

“I was not standing there with the intention of blocking anybody,” she said.

Law enforcement — primarily ICE, though state and local police have also made appearances — have at times been aggressive with protesters at Delaney Hall, deploying chemical munitions like tear gas and pepper balls against them. Drivers entering or exiting the facility’s parking lot have hit others in the past.

After a stop at the hospital, where she found she did not have any fractures, James wanted to return to Delaney Hall “to show that they don’t get to take that away.” She brought supplies: a picnic of Popeyes for the crew outside the jail.

James and her attorney, James Cook of the firm Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy, said they had not heard from law enforcement. Emanuel Miranda, Newark’s director of public safety, told HuffPost in a statement that the incident “remains under investigation.” And an unnamed spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, under which ICE is housed, told HuffPost in a statement, “This vehicle was not being driven by an ICE employee. We refer you to GEO group.” GEO Group did not respond to a request for comment.

“No one’s coming forward,” James said. “GEO is not saying anything, ICE is not saying anything, as far as I know. I have not been contacted. It’s surreal.”

James, who works as an event photographer, is a longtime activist who was active in the Twin Cities during the federal occupation of that area by immigration agents earlier this year. When a friend told her earlier this month about the need for supplies outside Delaney Hall — after law enforcement chemical agents contaminated the supplies in a mutual aid tent near the jail — James put a call out and got to work.

“Over the course of three days, I gathered so many donations of medical supplies and PPE that I had to rent a trailer,” she recalled. She and a few others drove the supplies 19 hours, from Minneapolis to Newark. She intended to stay in town for a week, but extended her trip after seeing “a lot of community need.”

“I put my life on hold,” she said. “My credit card is not happy with me right now.”

Cook said his firm is involved in a class action suit against federal law enforcement in Minneapolis. Cook also represents a defendant in a recent federal prosecution in Minnesota that alleges a conspiracy by activists to impede federal law enforcement. John Burris, the firm’s founder, represented Rodney King in his police brutality suit against the Los Angeles Police Department.

Cook said his firm is involved in a developing class action suit against federal law enforcement in Minneapolis. Cook also represents a defendant facing federal charges in Minnesota alleging a conspiracy by activists to impede federal law enforcement.

Last month, hundreds of detainees in Delaney Hall reportedly launched a hunger and labor strike, demanding freedom from detention — particularly for the young, elderly and medically vulnerable — as well as their full legal rights and a visit with New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D). In letters smuggled from inside the facility that have dozens of signatures — and in one case, nearly 300 — detainees detailed terrible conditions, inadequate food and medical care, lack of due process and retribution for speaking out.

ICE and Delaney Hall officials have reacted harshly, denying the existence of the strike altogether, suspending visitation and allegedly retaliating against participants inside. Many detainees have since been transferred to other ICE facilities, observers say, and advocates for detainees acknowledged recently that the strike has effectively ended as a result of the retribution.

“We’re not mad enough,” James said about what’s going on inside Delaney Hall. “Not enough people are aware of the level of these conditions.”

“As demonstrators, we’re showing up to lend our voices, to be present, and to let the people who have been detained know that they’re not alone,” she said. “We chant, we sing songs, we stay as close to the windows as possible to show them that we’re still there.”

The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants is personal for James. Her mother is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Vietnam. After going back to Vietnam to care for James’ grandmother, who was in poor health, James’ mother called her last December to plan her return to the United States.

“I had to sit there on the phone with my mom and tell her not to come back — tell her, ‘Don’t you dare come back,’” James said. “She comes up to my shoulder. She speaks broken English. I could not guarantee that she would be safe in the country that she calls home. That is terrifying in a way that I have not felt before.”

James said she knew coming forward would come with the risk of harassment, and even potentially being targeted by the Trump administration. She said right-wing trolls had already attempted to “dox” her, or reveal personal information publicly.

“There does seem to be a pattern of escalation,” she said. “I did recognize that the moment I accepted the interview, that I would be correctly doxed, likely, and that my life would likely be very different for a while.”

“But that is the risk that needs to be taken in order for this to get out there — for people to know what is going on.”

Brandi Buchman contributed reporting.

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