Protests outside Newark’s Delaney Hall have become a national flashpoint, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and New Jersey state troopers have used force against demonstrators and bystanders. The fight centers on hunger and labor strikes inside the facili
The first thing many people noticed about Delaney Hall wasn’t its location in Newark, New Jersey—it was the force that quickly met anyone who showed up near it.
Within the past week. protests outside the immigrant detention facility have spilled into national attention. driven by reports that militarized Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and New Jersey state troopers attacked and arrested demonstrators and bystanders alike. For New Jersey leaders who say they have been fighting this facility for months—some since the Trump administration retook office—what is happening now is not a surprise. It is an extension of a fight that began long before the crowds gathered.
On May 22, detainees inside Delaney Hall started a hunger and labor strike over what they described as “inhumane” conditions. They alleged disease, overflowing toilets, poor ventilation, and worm-riddled food. Those allegations quickly spread beyond the walls and sparked protests outside the facility.
For Senator Andy Kim. Congresswoman LaMonica McIver. and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Delaney Hall has become a recurring battlefield since President Donald Trump launched his crackdown on immigrants last year. All three have made appearances at the facility—and some of those visits have carried personal consequences.
On May 25, Kim was pepper sprayed as he attempted to de-escalate a confrontation between protesters and ICE agents. McIver, meanwhile, is facing federal charges for an alleged scuffle with a DHS officer at Delaney Hall last year. She told Rolling Stone. “I’ve been preaching the same thing for over a year now.” She added. “This facility should not be open.”.
Baraka said he was arrested in the same incident that led to the charges against McIver. “We started this before they even put people in that detention facility,” he said. “It’s a protracted fight. Ultimately we want the building to be shut down.”
The fury is not only about what detainees say is happening inside. It’s also about what lawmakers describe as stonewalling when they try to look.
Last May. McIver and two other New Jersey members of Congress tried to conduct routine oversight of the facility shortly after it had opened. The effort “went off the rails fast. ” as GEO Group employees allegedly stalled and dragged their feet until a group of DHS agents arrived and threatened to arrest Baraka. Chaos then spilled outside when protesters became involved.
In the melee between cops. protesters. and members of Congress. McIver was accused by the DHS of “assaulting. impeding. and interfering” with a federal officer. McIver. reflecting on what she says was targeted treatment. told Rolling Stone. “They looked at me as this young Black girl from the city of Newark — let’s target her.” She continued. “If they’re doing this to me. see what they’re doing to everyone else.”.
That sense of intentional targeting is central to the argument New Jersey lawmakers are making—not just about Delaney Hall, but about how enforcement is being run.
McIver linked what she described as vindictive charges. negligent treatment of detainees. and casual disregard of due process to broader policy goals attributed to figures inside Trump’s administration. She called it “truly a Stephen Miller special. ” referring to the key Trump adviser who has made immigration enforcement his top priority. “They’re weaponizing every system of the government for their racist goals,” she said.
Baraka focused on what he calls corruption and a process that bypassed local control. He pointed out that before 2025. Delaney Hall sat empty for several years after its last iteration as a halfway house closed down in 2023. GEO Group re-opened it in 2025. and he said it promptly won a $1 billion contract from the Trump administration to house immigration detainees.
In Baraka’s telling, the entire move was flawed from the start. He said GEO Group ignored local laws and permitting, bypassed zoning processes, and opened its doors to what he describes as a flood of detainees and government funding.
That line of attack extends to the revolving relationships between private prison contractors and enforcement leadership. Kim said the Trump administration operates a “revolving door of corruption” with the major companies running private prisons. She pointed to David Venturella. the current head of ICE. who she said was a senior vice president at GEO Group until 2023 and served as a paid consultant almost up until the moment he was appointed. She also cited Tom Homan, Trump’s “Border czar,” who she said took consulting fees from the company.
Kim added that GEO Group and CoreCivic collectively donated nearly $2.8 million to Trump’s 2024 election campaign, and she said federal contracts—including the one supporting Delaney Hall—followed.
Baraka said the point of those connections is that private contractors are using detention to enrich themselves. “They’re using this situation with ICE to enrich themselves,” he said. “There are private prisons all over the country that are popping up trying to get these contracts. We need to exercise our authority on the local level to keep these people accountable.”.
Yet exercising authority, lawmakers say, is complicated when Congress and the executive branch operate with friction.
McIver serves on the House Committee Homeland Security. which she says is supposed to oversee ICE and its subcontractors like GEO Group. But she described accountability as an uphill battle under Republicans in charge of Congress. She said it’s a constant “battle” to get any kind of accountability—or even an appearance at the committee—out of the Trump administration’s immigration apparatus.
“We spend a lot of time talking about China and not talking about all of the issues that are happening right in our own homeland,” McIver said. “The ICE director came one time. Trying to get these people in front of you to hold them accountable — it’s impossible.”
She and the committee got another chance on Wednesday, when newly appointed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin appeared before lawmakers. McIver opened with a question she framed as basic: whether Mullin had ever been to Delaney Hall.
“No I have not,” Mullin answered.
McIver said she expected that result, but wanted it on the record. “This is a man who hasn’t stepped a foot inside this location,” she told Rolling Stone the day before the hearing. She added, “He doesn’t know what’s going on, he’s just doing Trump’s bidding.”
During the hearing. McIver used much of her time to describe detainees’ conditions at Delaney Hall and to criticize what she saw as political performance from Mullin. Mullin. according to the reporting McIver was responding to. has called for ending international flights to airports in “sanctuary cities. ” and he specifically threatened Newark in recent days as a response to the protests.
McIver said Mullin smirked at the end of her speech.
Even elected officials who attempt to visit Delaney Hall, Kim and other leaders say, can face defiance. On Monday, May 25, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill and Senator Kim attempted to inspect the facility. ICE had armed agents outside the facility and refused to let them in. Federal agents, Kim said, also refused to de-escalate, ratcheting up the tension.
Kim described the moment with a blunt sense of inevitability. “There was just a feeling of inevitable violence over Delaney Hall that day,” she said.
Kim tried to keep the peace when a conflict broke out with protesters. ICE started blasting away with pepper spray—hitting Kim and her constituents. In a phone call this week, Kim remained visibly frustrated by the experience.
“There has to be some kind of effort to do this in a nonviolent way,” Kim said. “I was trying! And there was zero effort. They could care less. It really stuck with me. It was such a jarring experience just how little they cared.”
For the lawmakers watching the protests and the crackdowns unfold, the pattern has hardened from allegation into something felt directly. “This casual brutality is baked into the system — designed by Trump. Miller. and their underlings to make navigating the immigration system in this country as painful as it possibly can be. ” Kim said. She pointed back to the conditions detainees described inside Delaney Hall—overflowing toilets and poor ventilation—as well as what she called abuse of protests outside. In her view, the violence on the ground gave those claims a new meaning.
“It crystalized for me the magnitude of this problem that we’re facing,” Kim said. “This cruelty that we’re seeing is intentional.”
Delaney Hall Newark ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement DHS GEO Group hunger strike LaMonica McIver Andy Kim Ras Baraka Markwayne Mullin Mikie Sherrill Stephen Miller private prison contracts