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Special edition of Caribbean Voices and Beyond with Issac Ferguson
About 300 detainees at Delaney Hall in Newark started a hunger strike and work stoppage Friday night to protest inhumane conditions inside the privately owned immigration prison operated by GEO, a major Trump donor.
Detainees are paid $1 a day for work maintaining the facility.
Issac Ferguson and Bob Hennelly, WBAI General Manager, interviewed Sally Pillay with Eyes On Ice New Jersey and Gabriela Soto, 28, who were both on site for the second day of the action. Soto's husband Martin has been held in the facility since February.
Gabriela Soto and her two children are all American citizens who live in Kearny.
"My husband was out getting diapers and he was just taken because of a language barrier," Soto told listeners. According to Soto, who is expecting her third child, the fact that her husband was married to an American citizen and had two children who were citizens was of no consequence. "The judge didn't think that was good enough to release him and that's what is wrong with the system. People have legal rights and they are being taken away."
In a letter from the 300 detainees they allege wholesale violations of the law, including federal immigration judges disregarding Habeas Corpus petitions that have been granted detainees in federal court.
"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," the detainees wrote. "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."
The letter continued. "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. We find individuals from the LGBTQ+ community with diagnoses of illnesses such as HIV, cancer, diabetes, heart problems, among others, who are not receiving proper medical attention for the aforementioned conditions."
Sally Pillay, with Eyes On Ice New Jersey, said that a grassroots coalition has been working on gathering material support for detainees' families including financial support for necessities like groceries and gas.
"Severe medical needs are being denied proper medical care and we have direct contact with the inmates" who face outbreaks of COVID and the flu, Pillay said. "Individuals are not getting timely medical care while they are at risk and we had a death in this facility not long ago. Miscarriages have happened in this jail. Individuals have lost 40 pounds in just a few months of being detained in the facility. We want everyone freed."
Since Delaney Hall opened at the start of Trump 2.0, detainees, their families and their supporters have complained of inhumane treatment, lack of basic medical care, rampant infectious disease and inedible food at the private jail. Back in December, 41 year-old Jean Wilson Brutus, died the first day he was in custody.
So far, this year 18 detainees have died in ICE or private custody across the country. Last year, 32 people died in ICE custody, the most since 2004.
Friday night, US Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) visited Delaney Hall and met with detainees.
"We talked with dozens, if not 100 or more of the detainees. Often they were talking about the poor food that they're getting, really disgusting food that they're not getting the medical treatment that they need and deserve," Kim said on a social media post. "I talked with a pregnant woman that was not getting the care that she needed. I talked with an 18 year old high school senior, who should be at a school not in this facility. There, this place needs to shut down, and these people need to be able to get out, be back with their families. They are not even being given the time in court."
Kim continued. "If this administration is so convinced that these are people that are dangerous, give them time in court. I mean, this is a farce of a situation. It is not reflective of our Constitution, of our laws, of how people, anybody in this country, should be treated. So, that is why I was here with Congressman Menendez. We're going to continue to fight for their rights, fight for their treatment, and make sure that we can do everything we can to restore our country's rule of law and our belief and our values in immigration."
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that no hunger strike was taking place.
"I'm deeply disturbed by reports of the poor conditions at Delaney Hall. Unsafe, inhumane, and unconstitutional living conditions are completely unacceptable," Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement.
Delaney Hall was the scene back on May 9, 2025, when masked federal immigration officers seized Mayor Ras Baraka off of a public street outside Delaney Hall. Charges against Baraka were ultimately dropped, but charges were brought against Rep. LaMonica McIver, who along with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), and Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. (D-NJ), tried to shield Baraka from the federal agents.
McIver faces 17 years in jail if convicted on the charges.
