Officials at a privately owned ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, denied Gov. Mikie Sherrill access to the facility on Monday, as approximately 300 detainees entered their fourth day of a hunger and labor strike.
“My request for access to Delaney Hall was formally denied this morning, raising serious questions about what they are trying to hide from public view,” Sherrill wrote in a statement Monday.
Sherrill and several Democratic members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Andy Kim and Reps. Rob Menendez and Analilia Mejia joined protesters outside the detention center. They called for an investigation into what they alleged was inadequate access to medical care and food. Sherrill said in a post on X that she was disturbed by reports that Delaney Hall provides detainees with “unconstitutional living conditions.”
“I have long opposed private detention facilities and advocated against them. I will continue to call for the closure of Delaney Hall because of reports like these,” Sherrill wrote on Sunday.
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Since assuming the governor’s office in January, Sherrill has strongly opposed President Donald Trump’s immigration efforts in New Jersey. The former Navy helicopter pilot filed a joint lawsuit in March to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from converting a vacant warehouse into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. Sherrill has also signed multiple pieces of legislation restricting ICE operations in the state, including requiring judicial warrants for operations on state property and banning face masks for federal officers during some public interactions.
Kim, who also called for Delaney Hall to be “shut down immediately,” gained access to the compound after Sherrill was denied. A DHS spokesperson confirmed to NOTUS that the congressman was allowed in after he spoke directly with Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
The spokesperson denounced Sherrill’s attempt to access the compound.
“Governor Sherrill’s visit to Delaney Hall is nothing more than a political stunt on Memorial Day when visitation is currently suspended due to riots outside the facility,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. The department did not respond to questions about whether officials would let other lawmakers access the facility.
Gabriela Soto, the pregnant wife of detainee Martin Soto, has been leading protests outside the facility since Friday. Martin Soto is one of the leaders of the strikes inside the detention center. Tensions outside Delaney Hall came to a head Sunday night when Gabriela Soto and other protesters attempted to block vehicles from transferring her husband to a detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Menendez, one of the congressmen participating in the protests, confirmed Monday that Martin Soto had been transferred.
“I promised Martin’s wife that I wouldn’t leave until I found him. After 18 straight hours on the ground, first at Delaney Hall and now at EDC [Elizabeth Detention Center], we finally got to see and speak with Martin,” Menendez wrote in a post on X. He also called for ICE to be “abolished.”
Delaney Hall is owned by a private prison company called GEO Group, which has a 15-year, $1 billion contract with ICE to operate the facility as an immigration detention center.
Since reopening as a detention facility in May 2025, Delaney Hall has been under intense scrutiny from Democrats attempting to perform oversight. Multiple elected officials are facing legal repercussions following protests there that month. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested, but the trespassing charge was later dropped. New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver was also charged with three felony counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding officers, and faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted.
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