At Delaney Hall, the struggle persists after cameras left

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At Delaney Hall, the struggle persists after cameras left
Volunteers say conditions have worsened at the New Jersey detention facility since the hunger strike ended

By Russell Payne
Staff Reporter
Published July 17, 2026 6:30AM (EDT)


(Salon) While the hunger and labor strike at the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in New Jersey ended weeks ago, conditions within the facility have not improved, and may be even worse than before the strike there. Now, policies are seemingly directed at obscuring conditions in the for-profit facility operated by The GEO Group.

In May of 2025, Delaney Hall, which operated as a holding facility for those picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2011 to 2017, was recommissioned to support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. On May 22, detainees at Delaney Hall launched a hunger and labor strike at the facility, capturing national attention to what they described as inhumane conditions in the facility. In particular, detainees described unsanitary, moldy or spoiled food and mistreatment by guards. The strike led to significant protests outside the Newark, New Jersey, detention center, and high-profile clashes between protesters and the guards there as well as a frenzy of attention from the national press.

On June 22, advocates for detainees there said that the strike had ended, though not because conditions had improved, but rather because the facility and the Department of Homeland Security had adopted a tactic of frequently transferring detainees between facilities, which effectively broke the ability of detainees to organize themselves within the facility.

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Other complaints include persistently low-quality food, isolation within the facility, and frequent transfers between Delaney Hall and other facilities, which serve to prevent organizing in the detention center. One volunteer also described a new system adopted, in which new detainees, often there for shorter periods of time, are kept away from longer-term detainees. Those who are held for shorter periods of time also describe better conditions upon release than other detainees who are held for longer periods. Other volunteers said that the families of detainees have been intermittently encouraged not to discuss conditions in the facility after visits to their family members. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/07/17/at-delaney-hall-the-struggle-persists-after-cameras-left/