Protesters have been clashing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers outside a federal detention center in New Jersey as reports have emerged of hundreds of detainees going on a hunger strike to protest conditions inside.
The clashes have been taking place outside Delaney Hall, a for-profit lockup in New Jersey owned by the GEO Group. Democrats in Congress with oversight authority who've been inside the facility say they heard directly from detainees about a lack of edible food, medical care, and medication, as well as a lack of access to attorneys.
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New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said she went to Delaney Hall to investigate, but ICE refused to let her in. U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) said he is still alarmed by what he is seeing.
"There's continuing concern about the conditions in which individuals are being kept," Menendez said. "There's a lack of ventilation. There's a concern that COVID's spreading throughout the facility — medical issues that continue to go untreated. The food continues to be an issue."
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is telling a different story, calling the protesters rioters who obstructed law enforcement and ignored commands to leave. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement that "there is NO hunger strike at Delaney Hall" and that "there are no subprime conditions."
That is despite firsthand accounts to the contrary from detainees, their attorneys, and politicians who have been inside the facility.
