Delaney Hall becomes Markwayne Mullin's first test as DHS head

Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed detention facility in Newark, reopened and has since seen protests, arrests, and escapes. Democratic lawmakers and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called for the facility to be shut down. Sherrill announced a protected protest zone outside the facility and said she would take every action available to enable a full inspection by the New Jersey Department of Health, which currently has restricted access. A spokesperson said inspectors were only allowed to conduct a food service inspection. DHS says detainees receive three meals a day, clean water, clothing, and other resources and denies a hunger strike. Mullin said a small group refused to eat for “ethnic right food.” Advocates and detainee organizers claim the hunger strike is coordinated among hundreds seeking release and describe brutality in both conditions and responses.

"Sherrill announced Friday the formation of a protected protest zone outside of the facility. Sherrill also said she'd take "every action available" to facilitate a full inspection of the facility by the New Jersey Department of Health, which she said had its access restricted. A department spokesperson confirmed to Axios that inspectors were only allowed to conduct a food service inspection."

"The other side: Mullin has argued the backlash has "nothing to do with the conditions at the facility," which DHS says include three meals a day, clean water, clothing and other resources. DHS has contended there is no hunger strike. Mullin said during a Wednesday meeting of Trump's Cabinet that the "handful of individuals" refused to eat because they wanted their "ethnic right food.""

"ButNedia Morsy, the director of Make the Road New Jersey, tells Axios that the hunger strike is a coordinated effort among 300 detained community members seeking release. "ICE lies and manipulates and threatens and continues to feel that they have the permission to do so because ... Mullin enables it and encourages it," she argues. Ami Kachalia, a senior policy strategist with the ACLU of New Jersey, tells Axios there has been "brutality in the conditions, and there's been brutality in the response.""

Read at Axios