Delaney Hall visitations restart after week of clashes

Gov. Mikie Sherrill says limited visitation will resume at noon and regular hours begin the next day at Delaney Hall in Newark after more than a week of protest clashes, a hunger strike by detainees, and a New Jersey curfew around the detention center.

Outside Delaney Hall in Newark, the shouting and the running had dragged into its second week when Gov. Mikie Sherrill posted an update on X: the detention center would open its doors again.

“Update: DHS has met our demand to restore family visitation,” Sherrill wrote on May 31. “Starting today, limited visitation will resume at noon, and regular visitation hours will be restored beginning tomorrow.”

Delaney Hall—a privately run immigration detention center—will once again welcome visitors after a week of clashes between law enforcement and anti-ICE demonstrators, as well as a hunger strike among some detainees, according to the reporting surrounding the protests.

In the governor’s message, she urged families to coordinate directly with the facility for details, and said law enforcement would help escort families into the building. “It is critical that outside actors allow this to happen safely,” she wrote.

The resumption comes as Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has imposed a curfew around the facility. The order applies to a half-mile area around Delaney Hall and runs from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. ET until further notice.

Baraka said the curfew was necessary because of “the escalating situation at Delaney Hall and the increasing need for police intervention.” He wrote that “multiple individuals have already been arrested and found in possession of weapons,” adding that the threat was serious.

The curfew also arrived after state police erected fencing for what NorthJersey.com described as a “protest zone,” a move some critics see as a violation of free speech.

While visitations had been suspended during the height of the standoffs. the Department of Homeland Security pushed back on the idea that it “caved” to political pressure. In an email sent to USA TODAY. DHS said it did not cave. and that visitation was paused because of safety concerns for law enforcement officers. detainees’ families. and their lawyers.

DHS said that now that a perimeter around the facility is secure, visits can resume.

For more than a week, tensions at Delaney Hall have intensified as advocates outside the center protested conditions and some detainees inside reportedly forewent food as part of a hunger strike protest that began after Memorial Day weekend.

Clashes have taken place outside the gates between federal immigration officials and demonstrators. During the unrest, federal prosecutors accused one protester of kicking and biting federal agents, and other arrests were reported.

The ACLU of New Jersey said most protests had been peaceful and that law enforcement escalated tensions.

DHS, however, denied that a hunger strike was taking place at Delaney Hall, which is run by the private prison firm GEO Group.

At the center of the political pressure is Sherrill’s assertion that the situation demanded action to protect detainees and families. After the governor deployed New Jersey State Police to the area outside Delaney Hall. she said she had to protect public safety and prevent escalation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. which she said had surged in the area.

NorthJersey.com reported that federal immigration officers charged crowds, wielded batons, and fired pepper spray into crowds. DHS blamed protesters for escalating standoffs, saying they threw objects at officers.

The clashes gained national attention after Sen. Andy Kim—who represents New Jersey—said he was pepper-sprayed outside Delaney Hall on May 25 during a visit supporting the detainees who were mounting a hunger strike protest. Sherrill also tried to visit the facility that day, but she said she was denied entry.

In her announcement about resuming visitations, Sherrill tied the reopening to a broader set of demands. She said she continued to call on DHS to provide “appropriate care and medicine for all detainees. ” give detainees a meaningful opportunity to review their cases. stop pressuring detainees into signing deportation documents. be transparent about who is being held in the facility. and ultimately close the facility.

As the facility prepares to restart visitor access—starting with limited visitation resuming at noon on May 31 and regular hours beginning the next day—the question that hangs over Newark is whether the perimeter controls that enabled visits can keep families safe in a moment when federal agents. protesters. and detention-center staff have all been pulled into the same volatile space.

The sequence of decisions—visitations suspended amid safety concerns. fencing erected around a protest zone. a curfew placed for public safety. and then DHS signaling that a secure perimeter has been established—sets the terms for what happens next at Delaney Hall: whether the political pressure now shifts from stopping escalation to addressing the detainees’ demands inside the facility.

Delaney Hall Newark immigration detention ICE protests Mikie Sherrill Department of Homeland Security visitation curfew Ras Baraka GEO Group hunger strike Andy Kim ACLU of New Jersey