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Conditions at NJ ICE facility are meant to ‘break people,’ U.S. rep says after visit
By
Michael Sol Warren
Published May 11, 2026
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Michael Sol Warren
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Michael Sol Warren
Published May 11, 2026
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Difficult conditions and inadequate staffing in a privately owned ICE detention center in Newark are degrading the health of detainees inside, a pair of New Jersey U.S. representatives said after a tour Monday.
Rep. Rob Menendez and Rep. Nellie Pou, both Democrats representing districts in urban North Jersey, conducted an oversight visit to Delaney Hall on Doremus Avenue.
They told reporters that dozens of detainees inside complained of inadequate medical care, difficulty visiting with family and friends, dirty air, and low-quality food.
“What they are doing inside of there is trying to create conditions where people are so demoralized that they will sign voluntary departure papers to not have to be in there anymore,” said Menendez, who noted he’s seen similar conditions during prior visits. “They're trying to break people so people give up.”
Reporters were not allowed to join the oversight visit. The congressmembers and their staff were not able to bring in their phones or take photos inside the facility.
An ICE spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did Florida-based The GEO Group, which operates the ICE detention center.
It sits between the Essex County jail and an NJ Transit bus garage on Doremus Avenue, a major truck route. Smells from a nearby sewage treatment plant and a fat rendering facility hang in the air.
Delaney Hall can hold up to about 1,200 detainees, though the actual population fluctuates. Pou said roughly 680 detainees are currently at Delaney Hall. She and Menendez said they met with detainees from around the globe, that none of them had criminal records, and that many of them had long-established lives in America.
Pou was making her first oversight visit to Delaney Hall. She called it an “eye-opening” experience. She said there was just one doctor and a handful of nurse practitioners in the facility’s medical clinic. Pou said she was concerned the medical staffing was not enough to handle emergencies.
Menendez said ICE and The GEO Group have repeatedly said that detainees who request medical care are seen within 24 hours. But he questions that. In one instance, Menendez said, a man described waiting over two months to see a dentist about mouth pain. Menendez said the man still has not gotten dental care, and instead is being given pain medication.
“ All the individuals that we spoke to, when you mention the idea that they've been seen within 24 hours, they like, they sigh in disbelief,” Menendez said. “Because that's not the reality.”
Visitation limits remain a complaint among detainees and their families, Pou said. Visitors are only allowed on the weekend and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Visitors often wait hours outside the facility before being let in.
There is limited parking available, and visitors risk being denied entry if they don’t comply with the facility’s dress code. Once inside, visitors have a limited time to meet with a detainee, and the clock starts before the check-in process is done.
The visit comes roughly a year after federal agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka while he was protesting the facility’s opening; the charges against Baraka were later dropped.
Menendez, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rep. LaMonica McIver were also there that day, trying to make an unannounced oversight visit. The three representatives were caught up in the scuffle around Baraka’s arrest. McIver was later indicted on charges that she impeded federal officers; that case is ongoing, with a hearing scheduled for June.
Menendez said the Department of Homeland Security has maintained a professional relationship with Congressional offices since last year’s incident. But he said GEO Group staff at Delaney Hall “hates when we’re here.”
Menendez said he doubts the facility can be reformed.
“ From Day One, we've said this place should not be open,” Menendez said. “We continue to believe that it shouldn't be open and I don’t think that there’s a way to improve it.”
The visit comes as Congress debates a Republican proposal to give ICE another $70 billion for immigration enforcement.
Menendez said he hopes New Jersey’s three Republican representatives visit Delaney Hall before they decide to vote on the measure.
Tagged
Politics
immigration
new jersey
Michael Sol Warren
Michael Sol Warren covers New Jersey for WNYC and Gothamist, and previously reported on issues around the Garden State for NJ Spotlight News and NJ Advance Media. He can be reached at [email protected].
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