Detained immigrants issue “Our Cry,” a letter from inside Newark ICE facility pleading for due process

More than two dozen men held at a controversial immigration detention center in Newark recently issued a letter apologizing for how they came into the country, but also saying they posed no threat to others before the feds seized them as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration raids.

Titled “El Grito de Nosotros,” which is Spanish for “Our Cry,” and penned by detainee Leonardo Villalba, the letter also claimed that lawyers fear representing them, judges regularly dismiss their cases, and prosecutors wish to send them to the same dangerous Latin American countries from which they fled.

The 24 detainees who signed on to the letter tried to follow the legal immigration process once they entered the country. But they said systemic failures led U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to snatch them up. And now they face abusive treatment at Delaney Hall, the massive Doremus Avenue facility run by the private prison firm GEO Group.

“We’d like to apologize for the way we entered the United States, but we were experiencing safety circumstances that endangered our lives and the lives of some members of our family,” the letter reads. The men said they quickly surrendered to border authorities.

“We attended periodic check-ins, obtained work permits and Social Security numbers, filed taxes, were working legally and contributing to the economy,” they wrote. “We did not pose a threat to the country or the communities where we resided.”

“We feel vulnerable, in a way, kidnapped or detained without justification,” the men wrote. “We see with profound helplessness and frustration that the rights to due process and legal counsel were violated, and benefits granted in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution were unacknowledged.”

Representatives from Eyes on ICE NJ, a grassroots coalition that supports people directly affected by ICE detentions in the Garden State, said detainees gave the letter to advocates after Sen. Cory Booker inspected the Newark complex Jan. 23.

The men thought they were going to meet with the senator that day, but never got the chance.

Kathy O’Leary of Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace organization, said she was blown away by the letter’s careful, measured phrasing, as well as the apology it led with.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she told The Jersey Vindicator. “I can’t imagine being in that situation and having the presence of mind to write a letter like that.”

She also said she was relieved that at least some of the detainees were able to tell their story themselves, instead of depending on advocates to share it.

“That’s what we want,” she said. “We’re not here for us; we’re here for the people inside. And we want people to listen to what they’re saying and see these folks as human beings … there’s so much information about their legal situation, but so little about the fact that these are human beings that are being tortured and disappeared.”

The message also comes more than a month after the still-unexplained demise of Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian man who died at Delaney Hall, and months of complaints and criticism from immigration advocates, local officials, and federal lawmakers about the facility’s treacherous living conditions.

The detainees’ letter buttressed these concerns and said ICE had seized juveniles, the elderly, and those struggling with mental illness and physical disabilities — then heaped them all together inside the overcrowded 1,000-bed complex.

“The flu is a constant problem among the detainees, as are stress, fever, and general body aches which could lead to an outbreak of illness or an epidemic,” the detainees wrote.

Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment.

GEO Group, which employs Delaney’s much-maligned guards, denied the detainees’ accusations.

“GEO strongly disagrees with these allegations, which we believe are instigated by politically motivated outside groups as part of a campaign to abolish ICE and end federal immigration detention by attacking the federal government’s immigration facility contractors,” Christopher Ferreira, the firm’s director of corporate relations, wrote in a Thursday email.

Despite the company’s dismissal of the accusations, Eyes on ICE NJ and its supporters have mapped out a coordinated campaign to persuade lawmakers to chop the agency’s gigantic budget, which was already $11.2 billion before Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” added another $75 billion.

That includes scattered protests on bridges and overpasses, as well as calling the offices of Cory Booker, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to relay one simple message: Stop funding the divisive agency.

“No more funding for ICE. Period,” the coalition’s suggested message said. “Redirect federal dollars to legal representation and due process for people in detention.”

The feds detained about 5,500 people in New Jersey between January and October 2025, according to the Deportation Data Project.

But activists said in a statement accompanying the letter that immigration enforcement in the Garden State is accelerating every day.  

“The public must hear directly from those most directly affected by this utter miscarriage of justice,” the statement read. “‘El Grito de Nosotros’ is more than a warning; it is a record of systemic failure and a demand for action.”

“This letter is the cry of those under detention demanding the dignity, rights, and protections guaranteed by the principles and precedents that this country was founded on,” the statement continued.

O’Leary added that she hopes it finally forces lawmakers to get moving on some sort of permanent fix.

“We really need legislators to stop showing up here with cameras and start going inside,” she said, referencing Delaney Hall. “They need to start rolling up their sleeves and doing that work. We’re going to get people out one at a time right now. … but we need to do everything we can to get as many people out as we can.”

It wouldn’t come a moment too soon.

Villalba, the letter’s author, said “families are being destroyed and separated,” sometimes with long-lasting effects on the youth who witness the arrests.

“There are minor children … who are suffering a very strong psychological impact because they do not understand the situation,” he wrote.

“Our American dream is safety and protection — with our families,” he continued. “Although this is a difficult situation, we trust in God and believe in American justice.”