A federal immigrant detention facility in New Jersey is at the center of a debate between Democrats and the Trump administration for the second time in a year.
Democratic elected officials showed up outside the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark on Memorial Day and accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of holding hundreds of people in “deplorable” conditions, which led some to go on a hunger and work strike.
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House and Senate Democrats alleged that the food, medical care, and legal proceedings that detainees inside Delaney Hall received were unacceptable. However, information provided by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, indicates that conditions inside ICE facilities are actually higher than the required conditions many inmates of federal prisons receive.
“ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” DHS said in a statement.
DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis went further and claimed that reports of a hunger strike were false.
“This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks. There is NO hunger strike at Delaney Hall. There are NO subprime conditions or abuse at the facility,” Bis said in a statement.
Detainees go on strike
An unspecified number of detainees began a hunger and work strike last Friday, according to Rep. Nellie Pou (D-NJ), in protest of their detention and conditions inside the privately operated facility. The New Jersey Monitor has also reported that detainees are on a hunger and work strike. Detainees may sign up for hourly work at wages less than minimum wage while in detention.
Hundreds of detainees signed a public letter that strongly criticized the U.S. government’s immigration system for not quickly adjudicating immigration claims, as well as the state of Delaney Hall.
“We feel vulnerable and, in a way, kidnapped — detained without justification — not to mention that we are being tortured physically and psychologically due to the poor food resources provided in these detention centers,” a translated five-page public letter signed by approximately 300 detainees said. “We see with deep helplessness and frustration that our due process, rights, and defense have been violated, disregarding benefits granted under the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments of the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.”
The detainees added that their detention led to families “being destroyed and separated.”
“We have seen judges in this detention center who are ready to carry out deportations and mass expulsions without properly reviewing cases. We live with anguish and fear of appearing in court,” the detainees wrote. “We are witnessing how judges are disregarding decisions of federal judges, for example not honoring HABEAS CORPUS rulings decided by a FEDERAL judge, depriving us of our liberty.”
Arrests of illegal immigrants, regardless of criminality, have taken placed in the United States for decades, although the Trump administration has ramped up ICE operations since January 2025 in response to the unprecedented influx of migrants at the southern border during the Biden administration.
At present, roughly 700 immigration judges nationwide have 3.2 million pending cases before them as of April. Cases can take up to a decade, if not longer, to be decided. ICE has historically arrested and detained those who have already been ordered deported by a judge or who are viewed as public safety threats due to their criminal history.
Democrats descend on Delaney
The 1,000-bed Delaney Hall was reopened in Newark last year and protested by Democratic lawmakers shortly after on several occasions, including one in which Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was charged on three counts of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer.
Although ICE oversees immigrant detention, it employs a federal prison contractor, the GEO Group, to operate and oversee this particular site.
A handful of House and Senate Democrats, including New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, made an unannounced visit over the holiday weekend to the Newark facility.
A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden ruled in March that lawmakers are legally entitled to go inside ICE facilities without giving prior notice. Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem tried to bar their oversight authority and require a one-week notice of all congressional visits, but it was temporarily blocked in March by the judge, although the Trump administration is still fighting to preserve the ban on surprise congressional visits.
Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) said he showed up Sunday evening in search of a specific detainee who he claimed had taken part in a strike. Menendez said he remained outside for 18 hours until he was able to speak with the detainee, who had been transferred to a facility in Texas.
“I was denied entry, but I have remained on-site throughout the night. I was told that I would be able to go inside at 8am, but ICE continues to deny entry,” Menendez posted on X Monday.
Booker said Delaney Hall detainees were on a hunger strike “because they are fighting for their human rights,” adding that “conditions there are deplorable.”
“Detainees protesting the lack of due process, the disgusting food and poor treatment while their families and advocates stood outside calling for help,” Kim said.
I saw chaos inside and outside of the ICE detention center Delaney Hall today. Detainees protesting the lack of due process, the disgusting food and poor treatment while their families and advocates stood outside calling for help. Instead of engaging with me and others about the… pic.twitter.com/5XSeZWzoky
— Senator Andy Kim (@SenatorAndyKim) May 26, 2026
Roughly 125 protesters gathered outside the facility with lawmakers and elected officials in solidarity with the detainees, according to CNN. The protesters surrounded the property, although they did voluntarily move for an ICE vehicle. ICE deployed pepper ball projectiles, but did not strike anyone.
Kim criticized ICE for sending in an armored vehicle outside the building and armored federal law enforcement, claiming that it “only poured gasoline on the fire.”
“Civilians were tackled and restrained, and agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd. This is more of the same lawlessness we’ve seen elsewhere around the country,” Kim said. “What I witnessed and experienced today was shameful. Delaney Hall is a failure; it’s this administration’s failure. The only way to make this right for our communities is to shut it down and make sure the failures we’ve seen never happen again.”
Today I am at Delaney Hall to stand with @GovSherrillNJ and my colleagues in support of detainees engaging in a hunger strike against the deplorable conditions. I’ll say it again: this ICE facility should be closed. pic.twitter.com/AALwhfKvjf
— Rep. Nellie Pou (@RepNellie) May 25, 2026
Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) was also on-site and was denied access to the building on Monday.
DHS pushes back
The DHS responded in a statement to the allegations on Monday and accused lawmakers of lying about ICE’s work in general and at this specific facility.
“The facts are all detainees are provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries. Illegal aliens also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” DHS wrote in a statement. “Certified dieticians evaluate meals. In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.”
ICE’s facilities, regardless of whether they are government-run or operated privately, provide full medical care to those in custody, including emergency, dental, medical, and mental health services.
The Washington Examiner toured one such privately operated ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, in 2019, where an ICE official also made the same argument that detainees received better medical care in ICE custody than they would have back in their home country.
The DHS stated that detainees at Delaney Hall include many criminals arrested in New Jersey, such as Jose De La O Lainez of El Salvador, whose criminal history includes homicide; Steven McKenzie of Jamaica, who was arrested for homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, and additional felony crimes; and Juan Vazquez Reyes of Mexico for homicide.
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Bis added that “sanctuary” policies employed by cities and states that bar law enforcement from turning jailed illegal immigrants over to ICE forces federal officers to go into communities and make arrests, resulting in more assaults and violence.
“We need these sanctuary politicians to stop peddling this garbage and cooperate with us to get these criminals out of their state,” Bis said. “These types of smears are contributing to our officers facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them as they remove the worst of the worst.”
