Hundreds of ICE detainees launch hunger and labor strike at Delaney Hall
Detainees are calling on Gov. Mikie Sherrill to visit the detention center and investigate conditions there
About 300 detainees at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark launched a hunger and labor strike Friday, alleging inhumane conditions inside the privately operated facility and demanding a meeting with Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
Family members and immigrant advocates gathered outside the Doremus Avenue detention center as detainees announced that they are refusing meals and stopped participating in the facility’s work program, where detainees can earn about $1 per day for jobs inside the jail.
During the rally, detainees used phones to speak with relatives and supporters outside.
Advocates said the strike was launched to protest conditions inside the facility and demand a broader investigation into operations at Delaney Hall.
Detainees are demanding an immediate meeting with the governor so she can witness conditions firsthand and hear directly from them. They are also calling for the immediate release of vulnerable detainees, including elderly people, young people, and detainees with serious medical conditions.
“The individuals inside Delaney Hall are not asking for more ‘comfortable’ conditions,” advocates said in a statement. “They are demanding their fundamental human rights: dignity, safety, medical care and freedom.”
The strike was organized after weeks of mounting frustration over conditions inside the detention center, according to detainees, family members, and advocacy groups supporting the strike.
Detainees raised concerns about overcrowding, a lack of medical care, poor treatment by guards, a lack of air conditioning, and contaminated food, including claims that worms had been found in meals. Some also said immigration judges were ignoring their cases or denying bond requests in an effort to pressure detainees to self-deport.
Gabriella Soto, whose husband is being detained at Delaney Hall, told reporters outside the facility that families were being torn apart by the detention system.
“Just because someone doesn’t have documents doesn’t mean that you’re not part of an American dream,” Soto said. “Immigrants make up America.”
Soto said her husband had missed birthdays, holidays and milestones while being held at the facility.
“I am four months pregnant, and my husband isn’t there,” she said. “He missed my daughter’s fourth birthday. He missed our son’s first birthday. He missed my son’s first steps.”
She described what she called degrading conditions inside the detention center.
“The food is horrible. They treat them like they’re animals,” Soto said. “Family shouldn’t be crying leaving these places.”
Soto said families of detainees often support one another during visitation and share stories of financial hardship, depression and uncertainty.
“One single income for so many people, and we still have to pay for their commissary, for their phone calls, for everything,” Soto said.
Detainees complained about long waits for immigration hearings and bond decisions and said judges often had too many cases to adequately review each matter.
Family members also relayed complaints from detainees about inadequate medical attention, language barriers, and fears of retaliation for participating in the strike.
Eyes on ICE New Jersey, the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, First Friends of New Jersey and New York, and families maintained a vigil outside the facility Friday in support of the strike, with organizers planning to continue the protest overnight.
“We will continue holding a 24-hour vigil, standing in unwavering solidarity with the brave men and women inside who are engaged in this collective act of resistance,” Eyes on Ice organizers said in a statement.
Detainees reported that guards responded to the strike by cutting off phone and tablet access as retaliation.
“There’s a lot of guards preventing them from making phone calls,” one speaker at the rally said while translating messages from detainees. “They’re walking the halls to not let them be able to speak or make phone calls or video chats.”
The detainees said the strike involved people from multiple housing units inside Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed immigration detention center operated by GEO Group.
Some detainees said they were prepared to continue the strike indefinitely despite fears of possible retaliation, including solitary confinement.
Family members described the financial and emotional toll detention has taken on their households. Soto said her husband had been pursuing legal status and was scheduled for another court appearance in 2028.
Another woman, Liliana Ramos, said her husband, who worked in the Delaney Hall kitchen, refused to report to work Friday as part of the strike. Ramos said the couple had spent years seeking legal status and had paid more than $13,000 in legal fees.
The hunger strike began just days after U.S. Reps. LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez and Analilia Mejia toured Delaney Hall following reports from detainees alleging abuse and neglect inside the facility.
“In an act of real bravery and obvious desperation, detainees wrote a letter about the conditions that they are facing here at Delaney Hall,” McIver said after the visit. “Not enough food, no medical care, and conditions they call torture — conditions any of us would recognize as torture.”
Amy Torres of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice criticized federal immigration officials’ handling of hunger strikes and conditions inside detention facilities.
“ICE claims they are treating people fairly, just like they claim their behavior is constitutional and above the law when they burst through car windows, chase school children, or publicly execute citizens in the street,” said Amy Torres of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. “So whatever imaginary metric ICE wants to assign to hunger strikes is one we will outright reject. The people in Delaney Hall have decried conditions from day one. They are now using their last available tool to bring attention to the deadly and dangerous conditions inside.”
Delaney Hall has faced ongoing controversy since reopening roughly a year ago. In May 2025, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested outside the facility during a protest and later had trespassing charges dropped. McIver was later charged with assaulting officers during the confrontation and has pleaded not guilty.
Last June, detainees staged an uprising at Delaney Hall over complaints about food and water shortages. Four detainees escaped during the uprising after breaking through an interior partition. Federal agents responded with riot gear and tear gas.
In December 2025, detainee Jean Wilson Brutus died less than 24 hours after arriving at Delaney Hall, prompting calls from advocates for an independent investigation.
Advocates have repeatedly raised concerns about overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and food quality at the center. Last week, nearly 300 detainees signed a letter describing deteriorating conditions inside the jail.
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Krystal Knapp is the founder of The Jersey Vindicator and the hyperlocal news website Planet Princeton. Previously she was a reporter at The Trenton Times for a decade.