Strike ends as ICE tightens rules at Delaney Hall

At Delaney Hall in Newark, detainees began a labor and hunger strike on May 19 over conditions they described as dangerous and inhumane. Within a week of ICE changing contractor standards in mid-June—removing language tied to state and local detainee-treatment

The strike at Delaney Hall didn’t end with a promise of reform. It ended with people going back to work and eating—after advocates say a crackdown inside the facility pushed detainees to stop.

What started as a labor and hunger strike inside the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark. New Jersey. began on May 19 and quickly pulled intense attention from protesters and organizers opposed to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. The hunger and work stoppage became a focal point for accusations against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. with detainees describing sanitation problems. spoiled food. and coercion from guards to sign documents they said would lead to deportation.

As the strike grew into a symbol outside the walls as well. protesters clashed with DHS contractors and officers periodically over the past month. In the middle of that escalating pressure. ICE changed its standards for detention contractors like The GEO Group in mid-June. framing the adjustment as a way to “reduce the burden on our detention operators.”.

The shift mattered because it changed how much the federal government required detention facilities to follow state and local rules about how detainees are treated. In the updated standards. ICE removed language requiring detention facilities to comply with state and local laws related to treatment of detainees. The updated rules also specified that detainee workers are not considered employees.

The Washington Post reported that the change was made at the behest of The GEO Group. The company has faced multiple lawsuits alleging that paying detainees $1 a day violates minimum wage laws. Advocates say these modifications help protect the operator from those legal fights by weakening the legal hooks tied to state and local oversight.

Detention work, in other words, has long been intertwined with profit margins. The strike also hits The GEO Group’s bottom line. advocates said. because private prison companies rely on detainee labor to sustain profitability. In immigration facilities. detainees can work for as little as $1 a day—a standard established in 1941 that. as described by activists. has not been updated since.

Less than a week after ICE made the contractor changes. advocates in communication with detainees at Delaney Hall announced that the strike had ended inside the facility. Sally Pillay. an advocate with Eyes on ICE. an activist network that supports families of detainees at Delaney Hall. said the strike ended due to “intimidation tactics.”.

Pillay said, “Because of the intimidation tactics, the disciplinary consequences for folks to be placed in segregation, [detainees] have now resorted to going back to job assignments and eating,” according to the account of her comments.

For some organizers. the timing fed a broader argument about the incentives built into the system—an argument centered on how private operators benefit from detainee labor while federal rules shield them from certain kinds of scrutiny. One faith leader who helps run an aid effort outside the facility described the situation in stark terms. Sister Susan Francois, an assistant congregation leader at the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in New Jersey. told Salon she considers the working conditions in the facility to be “very close to slavery.”.

Francois linked that reality directly to the business model of GEO Group and CoreCivic and argued the people steering detention policy have deep ties to those companies. She said. “This is part of the business model of GEO Group and CoreCivic. and it’s not a secret that the decision makers in DHS and ICE are former GEO Group executives.”.

She also said Delaney Hall is not the only site where detainees have gone on a labor strike. According to Francois, at Delaney Hall detainees are held under a 15-year $1 billion contract. She added that. on GEO Group’s website when it was talking to shareholders. it anticipated making $60 million a year in profit at Delaney Hall alone. Francois said about a quarter of that profit comes from not having to hire janitorial staff.

The company’s leverage extends beyond compensation, according to people describing life inside the facility. Family members of detainees told Salon that detainees were moved between facilities to try to break the strike. They also described guards pepper-spraying detainees for striking. and said visitation rules were changed arbitrarily day to day in ways that isolate detainees from their families. For a period last month, Delaney Hall even paused all visitation.

The updated contractor standards also landed in a context where advocates say oversight has repeatedly been contested. Nayna Gupta. the policy director at the American Immigration Council. described the added protections for operators as another barrier to oversight beyond what Congress and local officials can provide.

Gupta told Salon that it has not been only pressure from members of Congress visiting facilities and conducting oversight. She said state and local elected officials are also now part of the oversight picture. “That means these private prison companies are having to manage oversight interest engagement from elected officials. not only from the federal level now. but state and local governments. and that is more of a spotlight and transparency than they’re used to. ” she said.

Gupta pointed to what has already happened at Delaney Hall: she said The GEO Group has denied state and local elected officials access. In May, for example, Gov. Mikie Sherrill was denied access to the facility. Sherrill later issued a statement saying it raises “serious questions about what they are trying to hide from public view.”.

Even federal oversight has faced resistance, according to accounts described in the reporting. The Trump administration, Gupta said, attempted to block members of Congress from conducting oversight visits. Courts have maintained members’ access and struck down rules aimed at limiting that oversight. including one rule that would have required members of Congress to give a week’s notice before a visit.

Still, at Delaney Hall, guards have attempted to limit oversight from federal officials. When Sen. Andy Kim. D-N.J. visited the site. Kim said that guards kept him from speaking to any detainees and warned that doing so would result in an immediate end to the visit. Kim also said that even when something appeared seriously wrong. he was unable to communicate with detainees—such as the case of one woman he recalled curled up on the floor in the fetal position. “clearly in some pain and agony.”.

Gupta said the fear of lawsuits and the time spent fighting them has encouraged a posture that disregards state and local authority. “I think the lawsuits that these states bring around conditions in facilities that are housed in their state are something that has given these companies a lot of anxiety and wasted time. ” she said. “And that’s a perfect incentive to actively pursue a policy of we’re just going to disregard these laws altogether. and while there may be legal challenges to that position. they’re doubling down on the idea that they don’t have to listen to state and local leaders.”.

Her point extended beyond Delaney Hall itself. Gupta said the attention the facility has received is amplified by its high-profile strike and proximity to major media outlets in New York City. but she said similar facilities have been established by the Trump administration around the country. She also argued that the detention system itself is not required for civil enforcement.

“The current immigration detention system is relatively new in U.S. immigration history. We can absolutely enforce civil immigration laws without the use of mass incarceration. This is a civil legal system. It is not a criminal one. And the United States government can enforce rules and enforce consequences against violators of immigration law without running an entire system of mass incarceration at the hands of private companies. ” Gupta said. “We don’t need immigration detention to enforce our immigration system.”.

At Delaney Hall, the immediate story now is the end of the strike—followed by detainees returning to job assignments and eating, according to advocates—after the contractor standards were changed in mid-June. ICE and The GEO Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A protest hotspot that has drawn nightly clashes outside. and pressure inside the facility. now faces a new question that matters as much to families as it does to policymakers: whether shifting contract language and narrowing legal oversight can keep conditions unchallenged. even as people inside Delaney Hall signal that resistance comes at a cost.

Delaney Hall Newark ICE Trump administration mass deportation GEO Group detention center labor strike hunger strike contractor standards state and local laws oversight American Immigration Council Eyes on ICE Sally Pillay Andy Kim Mikie Sherrill CoreCivic