The Delaney Hall ICE detention Newark conditions protests 2026 situation has been building for over a week and as of today, June 3, it has reached a point that most Americans outside the New York and New Jersey area have no idea is happening. A US Senator was pepper sprayed. Health inspectors were turned away at the gate. A sitting governor was denied entry. Detainees have been on a hunger strike over spoiled food and conditions that their lawyers describe as “brutal.” And the federal government’s response has been tear gas, batons, curfews, and a DHS spokesperson calling the detainees “the worst of the worst criminals.”
Here is the full picture of what is happening inside and outside Delaney Hall right now.
What Is Delaney Hall and How Did It Become the Center of the Delaney Hall ICE Detention Newark Conditions Protests 2026 Crisis
Delaney Hall is a privately operated, 1,000-bed immigration detention facility located in an industrial area on the outskirts of Newark, New Jersey. It is run by the GEO Group, one of the largest private prison companies in the United States. The city of Newark filed a lawsuit against GEO Group in April 2025, alleging that the facility opened without the necessary permits and safety inspections. That case was referred to mediation last month, with a deadline of June 15 to complete talks a deadline that now looks almost impossible to meet given the current crisis.
The facility currently holds approximately 300 detainees people picked up during immigration enforcement operations across New Jersey. It is built for 1,000. The Delaney Hall ICE detention Newark conditions protests 2026 crisis began when detainees inside launched a hunger strike over what they described as routinely spoiled food, overcrowded sleeping conditions on bare floors, extreme cold in the cells, inadequate medical care, and pepper spray being used against detainees internally in retaliation for the hunger strike.
What Detainees and Their Lawyers Say Is Happening Inside
The accounts from inside Delaney Hall are the core of the Delaney Hall ICE detention Newark conditions protests 2026 story. Selenia Destefani, managing attorney and CEO of Nova Law Group, which represents people held inside, told CNN: “The conditions are brutal. People just sleep on the floor overcrowded rooms, cold showers, no food, extremely cold in the cells.” One woman whose husband was detained inside told CBS News that a fight broke out during lunch because detainees allegedly had not been fed for around 20 hours, and were then given only a small amount of food when they finally were fed.
Members of Congress from New York City who were permitted to tour the facility reported that detainees were being fed small portions of often spoiled food and that varied medical needs were being ignored. Families of detainees say their loved ones have also been subjected to pepper spray and physical force inside the facility in direct retaliation for their participation in the hunger strike and the protests happening outside.
DHS has pushed back on all of these allegations, calling the accounts inaccurate and describing the detainees as “the worst of the worst criminals.” DHS Secretary Mullin told reporters: “They can go back to their country.”
A US Senator Was Pepper Sprayed. A Governor Was Denied Entry. Health Inspectors Were Turned Away.
The escalation of the Delaney Hall ICE detention Newark conditions protests 2026 situation from a local story to a national one happened because of a series of events that individually would each be significant combined, they are extraordinary. New Jersey Senator Andy Kim was present outside the facility and was pepper sprayed while attempting to calm tensions between demonstrators and federal agents. A sitting United States Senator was pepper sprayed by federal officers. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill attempted to enter Delaney Hall on Memorial Day alongside several members of Congress and was denied entry at the gate. The governor of a state was physically blocked from entering a private facility operating on New Jersey soil.
New Jersey state health inspectors were separately dispatched to investigate the conditions allegations and were also denied entry. The New Jersey Attorney General and the city of Newark are now pursuing legal action to compel inspection access, and have threatened to sue the federal government to force a shutdown of the facility if inspectors continue to be turned away.
Tear Gas, Batons, Horses, and a Curfew What the Protests Look Like
Outside the facility, the Delaney Hall ICE detention Newark conditions protests 2026 demonstrations have been escalating for days. Federal ICE agents used batons to push back crowds. Police fired tear gas on multiple occasions including two rounds on Sunday night that sent protesters and reporters running and resulted in approximately 50 people being corralled into a tight circle before being arrested. Videos on social media showed officers on horseback marching into crowds. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka imposed an indefinite nightly curfew 9 PM to 6 AM around a half-mile radius of the facility. New Jersey State Police eventually took over from federal agents outside the perimeter, creating designated protest zones in an attempt to reduce direct confrontation.
The protesters are organized primarily through Eyes on ICE, a coalition supporting families of detainees. Every day since the protests began, elected officials members of Congress, state representatives, the governor herself — have shown up at the gates demanding entry or shutdown. Every day they have been turned away or met with federal resistance.
The State vs. Federal Clash That Nobody Is Covering Closely Enough
The most underreported dimension of the Delaney Hall ICE detention Newark conditions protests 2026 story is the constitutional and legal collision happening in parallel with the protests. New Jersey is a Democratic-led state attempting to exercise oversight over a federal immigration detention facility operating within its borders. The federal government is actively blocking that oversight at every level denying the governor, denying lawmakers, denying health inspectors, and deploying federal agents to manage protests that state officials have argued are being made worse by federal conduct. New Jersey Representative LaMonica McIver was charged with assaulting officers when she intervened during Mayor Baraka’s arrest outside the facility last year. Mayor Baraka himself was arrested on trespassing charges that were later dropped.
The mediation deadline of June 15 between Newark and GEO Group is now the next critical date in this story. If mediation fails, the city’s original lawsuit moves forward and the legal battle over whether Delaney Hall was ever lawfully opened in the first place will become a central question.
What Happens Next
The Delaney Hall ICE detention Newark conditions protests 2026 situation is not cooling down. The curfew remains in place. The hunger strike inside is ongoing. The legal threats from New Jersey officials are escalating. The June 15 mediation deadline is approaching. And the detainees inside who have tablets to communicate with the outside world are continuing to share accounts of conditions that their government says do not exist.
This is happening right now, a few miles outside New York City, and the full picture of what is inside those walls has still not been independently verified because independent inspectors have not been allowed in.
