Hunger strike continues at NJ ICE detention center as congressmembers visit

Immigrant detainees at Delaney Hall in Newark began a hunger and labor strike Friday morning to demand improved conditions and release. Sen. Andy Kim and Rep. Rob Menendez visited the facility Saturday evening and said detainees remained resolute. Family members held a rally outside the facility calling for detainee release and closure. Gabriela Soto said facility staff threatened her visitation rights and demanded that advocates stop demonstrating outside. She also said her husband faced pressure inside, including extended interrogations. Menendez said detainees continued organizing and supporting one another. The Department of Homeland Security stated there was no hunger strike at Delaney Hall at that time, while the GEO Group did not comment.

"Immigrant detainees on a hunger and labor strike at an ICE facility in Newark remain resolute, according to a pair of New Jersey congressmembers who visited them on Saturday evening. Sen. Andy Kim and Rep. Rob Menendez held an oversight visit to Delaney Hall, where detainees launched a strike Friday morning to demand better conditions and their release. "I do worry that ICE is going to try to put pressure on them because it's powerful. When people go on hunger strikes, it's powerful," Menendez said."

"The strike was announced during a rally outside Delaney Hall Friday, where family members were calling for the release of detainees and the closure of the facility. Gabriela Soto, a 28-year-old mother of two from Kearny whose husband Martin Soto has been detained at Delaney Hall since February, organized the rally. Soto said Saturday that her visitation rights had been threatened by facility staff, who demanded that she and other advocates end the demonstrations outside Delaney Hall's gate. Soto also said her husband was being pressured by staff inside, including by being subjected to extended interrogations."

""They think that he's a part of what I'm doing outside. They think that he's a part of the protest," Soto said. "It's just me. He's not doing anything inside." Menendez said he was moved by detainees' continued efforts to organize and advocate for their rights. "As much as that place wants to steal people's humanity and to crush people, you see people coming together and looking after each other," Menendez said."

"In an emailed statement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, wrote "there is no hunger strike at Delaney Hall at this time." The GEO Group, which is the Florida-based private company operating Delaney Hall, did not respond to requests for comment. ICE policy does not recognize an action as a hunger strike until it extends at least 72 hours, at which point guards are supposed to r"

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