* Almost all of those arrested on Friday night are not

from New Jersey, Sherrill says

* State police deployed to keep ICE from making the

situation worse, governor says

* Officials call for keeping focus on pushing peacefully

for better conditions at Delaney

By Karen Freifeld

NEWARK, New Jersey, May 30 (Reuters) - New Jersey state

police who deployed near an immigrant detention center found

that out-of-state agitators escalated tensions during protests,

Governor Mikie Sherrill said on Saturday.

At a news conference the day after Sherrill ordered state

police to assume control outside the Delaney Hall detention

facility in Newark, she said five of six people arrested Friday

night were not from New Jersey and said "national extremist

groups" became involved in the protests Saturday, adding to

tensions in the state's most populous city.

"You should not be here," she said of those who came to

create chaos. "You are not helping the people detained at

Delaney Hall. You're not helping detainee families and you're

certainly not keeping New Jersey safe."

State police on Friday set up "protected protest zones"

after several days of confrontations between protesters and

federal agents outside Delaney, a 1,000-bed facility whose

detainees had announced a labor and hunger strike to draw

attention to what they called inhumane conditions and to demand

their release.

"That's exactly where our focus needs to be right now,

advocating for better conditions for those inside the facility,"

Sherrill said. "We can't let what's happening outside Delaney

Hall take us away from that mission."

Sherrill said she was "grateful to the vast majority of

protesters who have assembled peacefully and raised their voices

about Delaney Hall conditions."

The company Geo Group ( GEO ) operates Delaney for

Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Homeland Security Secretary

Markwayne Mullin has denied the allegations about the facility

and called the involvement of state police a "win for law and

order."

But Sherrill, a Democrat, suggested federal officials had

made the situation worse, with ICE using batons on protesters

and taking other actions that she described as inappropriate for

crowd control. "They have been increasing tensions in a way

that's not helpful to public safety," she said.

The governor, who has called for the closure of Delaney

Hall, said her goal was to ensure peaceful protests and public

safety - and avoid a surge of federal agents.

"What we have been working towards now is ensuring that ICE

has no pretextual reason whatsoever to exacerbate this

situation," Sherrill said at a news conference.

Clashes between immigration officers and protesters occasionally

have turned violent in other states, most notably in Minnesota,

where federal personnel fatally shot two people and injured

others.

State police have tried to set up areas for protesters to

peacefully assemble, New Jersey officials said. But protesters

who were ordered to disperse Friday night surrounded a law

enforcement vehicle and made threats toward personnel, state

police Lieutenant Colonel David Sierotowicz said on Saturday.

Some activists were seen retrieving face coverings, gas

masks, fireworks, rocks and other projectiles from a nearby tent

area, Sierotowicz said.

Video from Friday showed police advancing with riot shields

and firing tear gas. Sierotowicz said police used standard

tactics to move the crowd back, with no significant injuries to

the public or law enforcement.

"We were not striking anybody last night," he said.

Protests are fine as long as they remain peaceful, state

officials said. At mid-afternoon on Saturday, dozens of

protesters were chanting slogans but remaining behind the

barriers that police had set up.

"Today and going forward, I urge those protesting outside of

Delaney Hall to bring the temperature down, so we can focus on

the detainees and their families," Sherrill said.