US Congressional Representatives Deplore ‘Horrific Conditions’ at Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Center
NEWARK, New York – Several Democratic members of the US Congress said they witnessed first-hand “horrific conditions” at the Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey amid an ongoing hunger strike by detainees.
Congressman Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that he gained access to Delaney Hall during an oversight visit a day after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pepper-sprayed advocates outside the facility.
He said New Jersey Democratic Senator Andy Kim, who was also there to conduct oversight of the facility, was among those injured by the irritant gases.
“We witnessed horrific conditions at the Delaney facility, including an active hunger strike, with many of the detainees under intimidation and fear of retaliation,” said Espaillat, the first Dominican Republican-American to serve in the US House of Representatives.
“The food is bad, and medical services are horrible; and it’s overcrowded,” Espaillat added. “The conditions that individuals are facing are not only cruel, but they are inhumane and simply intolerable.”
Espaillat said he gained access to the facility thanks to a court order compelling ICE officials to allow unsupervised congressional oversight visits wherever immigration detainees are held.
Yet, he said New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill was denied access to the facility, where about 300 detainees are staging a hunger strike “to protest the deplorable conditions.”
As part of a broader effort to increase oversight and improve conditions in immigration detention facilities nationwide, Espaillat said he will soon introduce the Governors’ Right to Inspect Act, “closing the glaring hole in federal immigration law that prevents governors from inspecting facilities within their own jurisdictions.”
Kim also said he saw “ICE brutalities out of the facility.
“I saw chaos inside and outside of the ICE detention center Delaney Hall today – detainees protesting the lack of due process, the disgusting food and poor treatment while their families and advocates stood outside calling for help,” he said. “Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire.
On Monday, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, debunked what it called “New Jersey sanctuary politicians’ smears against ICE facility.”
So-called “sanctuary politicians” are known as elected officials who govern cities, counties, or states with policies that limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with President Donald J. Trump’s immigration authorities.
“Instead of cooperating with our ICE law enforcement to remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens, these sanctuary politicians continue to peddle falsehoods about ICE facilities,” said DHS in a statement.
DHS said detainees also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers.
It said certified dieticians evaluate meals, and that ICE has “higher detention standards than most US prisons that hold actual US citizens.
“It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody,” DHS said.
