New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the operators of the Delaney Hall immigration detention center after Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Garden State health officials said the operators denied them full access to the facility.
Delaney Hall in Newark has been at the epicenter of controversy in New Jersey, as protesters have clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and state police outside the facility and demonstrated against what detainees on a hunger strike have called the “terrible and inhumane” conditions inside the center. Sherrill said she was denied access to the facility last Monday, along with state health officials, though the New Jersey Department of Health inspected a “limited part” of the facility later that week, according to the governor.
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The lawsuit filed Tuesday takes aim at The GEO Group, Inc., the operator in charge of the federal immigration detention center, saying the operator “refused to permit Plaintiff [Dr. Raynard E. Washington, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health] to inspect any area of Delaney Hall other than the food service areas.”
“If the GEO Group — with a $1 billion government contract — has nothing to hide and the conditions inside Delaney Hall are as safe and as sanitary as this private corporation and the Trump Administration claim, then there is no legitimate reason why my health inspectors are being kept from full access throughout the building,” Sherrill said in a Tuesday statement.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson called the lawsuit “frivolous” in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit. ICE is committed to transparency, and Delaney Hall complies with all required state and local laws,” the DHS spokesperson said.
The DHS spokesperson said that state health officials inspected the foodservice department of Delaney Hall from about 11 a.m. to noon on May 28, in what Sherrill called the “limited” inspection.
“We will continue to grant state and local inspectors’ access to the facility where appropriate,” the DHS spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “ICE is regularly audited and inspected by external agencies. All detainees are provided with proper meals, quality water, blankets, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers.”
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the attorney general’s office said after inspecting the food service areas, the state health officials were “barred from any remaining areas, including but not limited to the medical unit; toileting and shower facilities; ventilation; HVAC; and sleeping areas.”
“Without inspecting these areas, Plaintiff is unable to ascertain whether Defendant is taking sufficient precautions to mitigate the serious and unchecked risk of communicable diseases to both detainees at Delaney Hall and New Jersey’s public at large,” the lawsuit reads.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has pushed for the closure of the facility over detainees’ complaints about the conditions.
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Protests outside the facility have led to multiple arrests as the White House has stepped in to warn against protesters turning to violent strategies.
“Newark or anywhere in America, the message doesn’t change: @ICEgov operations will NOT be deterred,” the White House wrote on X. “Riot, obstruct, or assault an officer and you will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
