(The Center Square) — New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is renewing her criticism of ICE after she visited Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark on Monday morning, saying she was denied access to detainees.
During the hour-long visit to the privately run facility, Sherrill was shown a library, medical unit, kitchen, cafeteria, visitation area and a male housing unit. But she was not allowed to meet or speak directly with the detainees, which she said “continues to raise serious questions about the real conditions of the facility and the treatment of those held there.”
“What I received was a closely controlled and limited tour of the facility,” Sherrill said in a statement. “That is unacceptable.”
Sherrill said she “will continue advocating for humane treatment at Delaney Hall for detainees and their families, and ultimately to close the facility for good.”
The visit comes after New Jersey filed a lawsuit against the GEO Group, which operates the facility. The legal challenge claims state health inspectors were allowed into Delaney Hall to investigate claims of “inhumane” conditions by family members of the detainees.
Delaney Hall has become the latest flashpoint in opposition to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration since a group of detainees allegedly went on a hunger strike to protest conditions inside the facility.
The privately-run 1,000-bed facility has been rocked by more than a week of protests as Sherrill initially refused to send in state police to intervene in violent clashes between protestors and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, prompting criticism from the Trump administration. Dozens have been arrested by federal, state and local police.
The Department of Homeland Security has pushed back on the claims of mistreatment and substandard conditions in the privately run New Jersey facility, and says detainees are allowed to access immigration lawyers and provided with due process.
“Order will prevail,” the department posted on X Monday in response to a news story about the ‘free speech zone’ outside Delaney Hall. “Violent rioters will not stop or deter us.”
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border security czar, accused Democrats of lying about conditions inside Delaney Hall and conducted a spot visit of the facility over the weekend. He said had a meal in the cafeteria where detainees, eating spaghetti and meat sauce.
“It isn’t about the quality of detention, it’s about detention,” Homan told Fox News. “They [Democrats] don’t want these people detained, right? They want to shut down detention centers, and they want to abolish ICE. That’s what it’s all about.”
