ICE Detainees At NJ Prison Decry 'Inhumane' Conditions, Plead For Help In Smuggled Letter

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — How are immigration detainees being treated at Delaney Hall in New Jersey? It depends who you ask.

“This is the best health care many aliens have received in their entire lives,” a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told Patch, pointing to mandatory assessments for new arrivals, access to “24-hour emergency care” and meals that are “certified by dieticians.”

Ask a prisoner at Delaney Hall about their daily reality, however, and they will probably paint you a very different picture.

Nearly 300 men and women at the immigration detention facility released a group letter last week, alleging that they are facing “inhumane” conditions at the privately run facility, which is located in Newark and houses detainees from across the state. Read the full letter here.

Their allegations include bad food, medical neglect and problems with visitation, claims that have been backed up by activists and several U.S. Congress members from New Jersey (see below).

“It is public knowledge that agents have arrested individuals with physical limitations such as: deaf, mute, blind individuals, elderly persons and even pregnant women,” the detainees’ letter states.

“We see young people with approved juvenile status cases, with whom we are living in detention centers,” the letter continues. “There is also a high spread of COVID-19 in detention centers, and the flu is constant among detainees, which could lead to outbreaks of illnesses or epidemics.”

This is the second group letter that Delaney Hall detainees have penned in the last four months. An earlier effort was signed by 25 inmates in February – a sign that inmates are organizing inside the prison, advocates say.

“We have witnessed the suffering of the spouses and children at the hands of this cruel system and heard the stories of the harsh and inhumane conditions inside,” said Kathy O' Leary, an organizer with Eyes on ICE NJ and Pax Christi NJ.

“The contents of this letter echo those stories,” she urged.

Sally Pillay of Eyes on ICE NJ said the latest letter is “extraordinary” because – for the first time – women have publicly joined the male detainees at Delaney Hall.

“Despite the fear, isolation and conditions they are facing, the people inside organized across housing units, language barriers and genders to ensure every corner of the facility was represented,” Pillay said.

The 1,000-bed prison at Delaney Hall is the first federal detention center to open under the second term of President Donald Trump, who has claimed that a nationwide crackdown is needed to push back against a “large-scale invasion” of illegal immigration.

Delaney Hall has seen a wave of controversy since reopening, including allegations of poor treatment of detainees and visitors, several arrests involving demonstrators, federal charges against the city’s mayor and a U.S. congresswoman, a high-profile prison escape, and a detainee who died in federal custody.

Its owner, the GEO Group, is one of the largest private prison companies in the nation.

FEDS, PRISON COMPANY DENY ALLEGATIONS

Reached for comment about the detainees’ latest letter from Delaney Hall, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Patch that federal authorities are “applying the law as written.”

“No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States,” they said.

DHS spokespeople continued:

“It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. This is the best health care many aliens have received in their entire lives. Meals are certified by dieticians. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE.”

The GEO Group also denied the allegations from detainees, claiming that they were 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.

Here’s what a company spokesperson had to say when asked to comment on the detainees’ letter:

“In all instances, our support services are monitored by ICE, including by on-site agency personnel, and other organizations within the Department of Homeland Security to ensure compliance with ICE’s detention standards and contract requirements regarding the treatment and services ICE detainees receive. In the event issues are identified, we quickly resolve all of ICE’s concerns as required by ICE’s Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan. The support services GEO provides include 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, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs. Additionally, all of GEO’s ICE Processing Centers are independently accredited by the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. At locations where GEO provides health care services, individuals are provided with access to teams of medical professionals including physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Ready access to off-site medical specialists, imaging facilities, Emergency Medical Services, and local community hospitals is also provided when needed.”

Meanwhile, an ICE spokesperson said the agency’s role is to “uphold and apply the law.”

“When an immigration judge rules that an alien has no legal right to remain in this country, we are obligated under the Constitution to execute that removal,” the agency told Patch.

“Such claims are entirely unfounded and reflect the misinformation being spread by activist groups seeking to undermine federal immigration law,” ICE continued. “Our officers are confronting a staggering 1,300% increase in assaults while carrying out their duty to arrest dangerous criminals, including murderers, rapists and gang members.”

Advocates and family members of ICE detainees have pushed back against the claim that most of the immigrants imprisoned at facilities like Delaney Hall are “criminals,” however.

In April, data research organization Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reported that out of 60,311 people held in ICE detention across the nation, about 70.8 percent had no criminal conviction before being apprehended – and many of those who do were convicted only of minor offenses such as traffic violations.

Earlier this month, a data analysis from NJ Advance Media found that more than three in four people detained in the state since January 2025 had no criminal record.

According to detainees, that’s the very situation many of them are facing at Delaney Hall.

“We ask for forgiveness for the way we entered the United States, but given the circumstances we were living in our countries, which placed our lives and those of some members of our families in danger,” they wrote.

Many have tried to comply and follow the law since arriving in the country – but aren’t facing a fair playing field, the detainees said:

“At the moment of entry, we turned ourselves in to border authorities, who processed us and some of us were granted ‘parole’ or given a court date to continue with our processes, in accordance with the opportunity granted to us by the Constitution and the laws of the United States. Likewise, we had periodic check-ins in order to report to the authorities. We also obtained work permits, Social Security, we filed taxes, and we were working legally and contributing to the country's economy. We must also mention that within this group there are individuals who crossed the border, integrated into society, formed families, and have lived in the country for 10 years or more with their citizen children, who despite not having legal status have also been paying their annual taxes and have a clean record.”

>> Related: NJ Undocumented Immigrants Pay $1B In Taxes, Study Says (Here’s How)

“We know that ICE agents have orders to arrest immigrants, but in our cases, we had already been processed, we were complying with legal requirements, and there was no order from a judge for our detention or arrest – since from our entry we received a procedural benefit,” their letter states.

“However, ICE officers did not take into account the fact that there was already an immigration court date, and they arrested us during check-in appointments at USCIS facilities,” the detainees said.

It hasn’t gotten easier defending themselves in court, they said.

Lawyers are afraid to take their cases. Judges are given dozens of hearings in a single day – often issuing deportations within minutes of reviewing a case. Hearings are routinely canceled, leaving detainees waiting months for a court date. Translators aren’t always provided.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have been filing motions to deport detainees to countries racked by violence and persecution – some not necessarily their nations of origin – which is pressuring many detainees to voluntarily accept deportation out of fear, their letter claims.

CONGRESSIONAL VISITS

Several U.S. Congress members from the area have made oversight visits to the prison over the past two weeks, concurring with the allegations from inmates.

Reps. Rob Menendez Jr. and Nellie Pou visited Delaney Hall on May 11, later sharing detainees’ complaints about inadequate medical care, dirty air and low-quality food, Gothamist reported.

Pou said there was just one doctor and a handful of nurse practitioners in the facility’s medical clinic. The visitation process with family and friends is also a leading complaint from detainees.

“What they are doing inside of there is trying to create conditions where people are so demoralized that they will sign voluntary departure papers to not have to be in there anymore,” Menendez alleged.

“They're trying to break people so people give up,” he added.

Menendez also joined two of his Democratic colleagues – U.S. Reps. LaMonica McIver and Analilia Mejia – for an oversight tour of the prison on May 18.

The wife of one of the detainees – a 31-year-old Peruvian man who has been held in the facility since February – told reporters that detainees have been served rotten food, including a meal with “live worms,” “green sausages” and “chunky” milk.

“We just came out of there and I will tell you that everything in that letter was 100 percent correct,” said McIver, who is still facing federal assault charges connected to a scuffle outside the prison last year.

Mejia, who was recently elected to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s unexpired term in Congress, has also been a vocal critic of ICE and Delaney Hall. After her visit to the prison, she reported that the “injustice and suffering are visible in plain sight.”

“My worst fears are confirmed,” Mejia said.

• Related: Detainee Population Surges At ICE Prison In NJ After It Reopens Under Trump
• Related: 2 Prison Companies With NJ Ties May Score Big Profits From Deportations
• Related: ICE Office In Essex County Suburb Sparks Outcry From Activists

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