NEWARK, N.J. – A group of Democratic lawmakers descended on a federal immigration detention center in Newark on Wednesday after protesters inside the facility began a hunger strike and began calling the conditions “inhumane.”
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Manhattan Democrat, led the protest‑visiting delegation. After a rough‑hour tour inside Delaney Hall, a 1,000‑bed ICE facility located along Newark Bay, Espaillat declared, “We will shut this center down. We will shut it down.”
Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman—both also Manhattan – joined Espaillat inside the center, holding short interviews with protesters and families of detainees gathered outside near the security gate. Goldman told the crowd, “We want to make sure the conditions here are going to be dealt with.”
While tense at points throughout the day, the outside crowd produced more than 50 signs that read “Stop Family Separation.” They shouted “Free Them All” and other resolute slogans, directly targeting an armed ICE unit that had mounted an armored vehicle on the premises. Some protesters even called the officers “cowards” and “idiots.”
The hunger strike began in early May and has reportedly escalated in numbers, a claim confirmed by Gabriela Soto, who said her husband was one of the original participants and was later transferred to another facility. “At first it was just 300. Then it became a little bit more. Now, every single detainee inside there is participating. Every single one,” Soto said while wearing a black shirt bearing the slogan “Abolish ICE.”
Local civil‑rights advocates have echoed these concerns. Amol Sinha, executive director of the New Jersey ACLU, said the organization has heard “horror stories” about detainees, including pregnant women, who have not received required medical care. “Cruelty is the point,” he said.
ICE representatives have yet to respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, denied the existence of a hunger strike, abuse or any detrimental conditions inside the center. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters the agency is “giving them the calories they want” and warned that the facility is not a “Holiday Inn.”
Former President Donald Trump also weighed in, defending the detention center. “We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world – of their type – but we have some horrible killers,” he said.
Delaney Hall is managed by a private prison firm and lies along a heavily industrial stretch of Newark Bay. The site has long been a flashpoint for protests and clashes between immigrant‑rights advocates and ICE officials. “We won’t warm the door just because we just opened it last May,” said U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, after a mob of 1,000 protestors shook the gates during a demonstration earlier this summer.
Alongside the protests, Senator Andy Kim – a New Jersey Democrat – recounts an earlier clash on Monday in which he was pepper‑sprayed by a line of armed ICE agents, as he and Governor Mikie Sherrill tried to meet with detainees. Kim posted on social media, “Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire.” He continued, “Civilians were tackled and restrained, and agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd.”
The protests, lawmakers’ statements and the officials’ denials keep the story of Delaney Hall in the national spotlight. The call to shut the facility and address the alleged abuses may shift the debate over how U.S. immigration policy is enforced.
Marcelo reports from New York. U.S. Associated Press photo by Seth Wenig in Newark contributed to this story.
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Manhattan Democrat, led the protest‑visiting delegation. After a rough‑hour tour inside Delaney Hall, a 1,000‑bed ICE facility located along Newark Bay, Espaillat declared, “We will shut this center down. We will shut it down.”
Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman—both also Manhattan – joined Espaillat inside the center, holding short interviews with protesters and families of detainees gathered outside near the security gate. Goldman told the crowd, “We want to make sure the conditions here are going to be dealt with.”
While tense at points throughout the day, the outside crowd produced more than 50 signs that read “Stop Family Separation.” They shouted “Free Them All” and other resolute slogans, directly targeting an armed ICE unit that had mounted an armored vehicle on the premises. Some protesters even called the officers “cowards” and “idiots.”
The hunger strike began in early May and has reportedly escalated in numbers, a claim confirmed by Gabriela Soto, who said her husband was one of the original participants and was later transferred to another facility. “At first it was just 300. Then it became a little bit more. Now, every single detainee inside there is participating. Every single one,” Soto said while wearing a black shirt bearing the slogan “Abolish ICE.”
Local civil‑rights advocates have echoed these concerns. Amol Sinha, executive director of the New Jersey ACLU, said the organization has heard “horror stories” about detainees, including pregnant women, who have not received required medical care. “Cruelty is the point,” he said.
ICE representatives have yet to respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, denied the existence of a hunger strike, abuse or any detrimental conditions inside the center. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters the agency is “giving them the calories they want” and warned that the facility is not a “Holiday Inn.”
Former President Donald Trump also weighed in, defending the detention center. “We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world – of their type – but we have some horrible killers,” he said.
Delaney Hall is managed by a private prison firm and lies along a heavily industrial stretch of Newark Bay. The site has long been a flashpoint for protests and clashes between immigrant‑rights advocates and ICE officials. “We won’t warm the door just because we just opened it last May,” said U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, after a mob of 1,000 protestors shook the gates during a demonstration earlier this summer.
Alongside the protests, Senator Andy Kim – a New Jersey Democrat – recounts an earlier clash on Monday in which he was pepper‑sprayed by a line of armed ICE agents, as he and Governor Mikie Sherrill tried to meet with detainees. Kim posted on social media, “Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire.” He continued, “Civilians were tackled and restrained, and agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd.”
The protests, lawmakers’ statements and the officials’ denials keep the story of Delaney Hall in the national spotlight. The call to shut the facility and address the alleged abuses may shift the debate over how U.S. immigration policy is enforced.
Marcelo reports from New York. U.S. Associated Press photo by Seth Wenig in Newark contributed to this story.
