What's Happening at Delaney Hall? Detainees on Hunger Strike as ICE Uses Batons on Protesters

Crowds have been gathering nightly outside Delaney Hall, a federal immigration detention centre in Newark, New Jersey, chanting in support of the detainees inside. The scenes, captured on video and shared widely across social media, have drawn international attention to a facility that has become one of the most fiercely contested flashpoints in President Donald Trump's push for mass deportation.

The 1,196-bed facility, located in an industrial area on the outskirts of Newark, opened on 1 May 2025 and currently houses a daily population of around 908 detainees, according to federal data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Operated by the GEO Group under a federal contract reportedly worth $1 billion (approx £790 million) over 15 years, Delaney Hall has faced sustained scrutiny from immigrant rights organisations and local officials since it first opened.

Inside the Strike

Hundreds of detainees have been on a hunger and labour strike since mid-May, with advocates and relatives saying the action began with roughly 300 people refusing food or work assignments. Detainees cited poor food quality, delayed medical care, sanitation concerns, and prolonged detention without timely case resolution as their reasons for striking.

Those detainees cook, clean, and repair the facility for as little as $1 (approx 79p) a day and sometimes for nothing at all. By walking off those assignments, detainee advocates say they were targeting not only conditions inside the facility but GEO Group's reliance on their labour. Families who spoke to reporters described worm-infested food and cells crammed with over a dozen people. One detainee's wife told CBS News her husband said: 'On the past Sunday, they found worms, live worms, in their food.'

Governors Blocked, Inspectors Turned Away

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill attempted to enter the facility on Memorial Day but was denied entry. She has since called for Delaney Hall to be shut down. Sherrill also said state health officials were 'denied full access' to conduct an inspection, with inspectors allowed to view only a limited area of the facility.

Local officials, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, have maintained that the facility was repurposed without the proper permits and approvals. In May 2025, Baraka was himself arrested outside Delaney Hall during a protest, though those charges were later dropped. The Trump administration subsequently charged US Congress member LaMonica McIver, who was present at the time, with assault, charges McIver has denied as 'purely political.'

Clashes Outside the Gates

ICE agents were seen using batons to push back protesters as demonstrations escalated across several nights in late May. The Department of Homeland Security said around six demonstrators were arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers. DHS issued a statement warning that 'assaulting and obstructing ICE law enforcement is a crime and felony' and that 'anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin dismissed the protests in a post on X, calling them 'nothing more than a political stunt' and accusing New Jersey 'sanctuary' politicians of orchestrating the situation 'for fundraising clicks.'

What the Facility Says

Christopher Ferreira, a spokesperson for GEO Group, said the company is 'proud of the role our company has played for 40 years to support the law enforcement mission' of ICE, highlighting that detainees have 'around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, translation services, dietician-approved meals.'

Despite those assurances, lawmakers have shown up daily demanding that Delaney Hall be shut down, or at the very least, that conditions inside be improved. According to the Detention Watch Network, over 200 people reportedly remained on a labour and hunger strike inside the facility.

Delaney Hall has come to represent a broader national reckoning over the conditions and legality of immigration detention under the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda. The facility had previously seen four detainees escape in June 2025 following an internal uprising, all of whom were eventually recaptured. With protests now entering their ninth day, calls from state officials, advocacy groups, and elected members of Congress for federal oversight — or outright closure — show no sign of abating.