Lawmakers demand closure of Newark private ICE jail after hunger strike
Bipartisan outcry over Delaney Hall—led by Representative Mikie Sherrill (denied entry) and Senators Kim and Menendez—exposes the predictable cruelty of for-profit detention. Detainees reported 'filthy bathrooms, abusive guards, and inadequate medical care' after a hunger and labor strike demanding basic dignity. GEO Group, the facility's operator, reported $2.6 billion in total revenue in 2025, up 6% from $2.43 billion (TIME source: https://time.com/7378284/ice-immigration-detention-contractors-record-revenue), an incentive to fill beds regardless of humane conditions. Federal agents escalating protests with pepper balls and mace confirm a system that prioritizes punishment over due process.
The protests outside Delaney Hall are a direct result of a policy that turns human misery into profit. Representative Mikie Sherrill was denied entry by ICE while trying to investigate conditions inside a facility where hundreds of detainees are on hunger strike. Closing Delaney Hall is not just a local fix—it is a moral and legal imperative. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and the Flores Settlement Agreement forbid the kind of family detention and punitive treatment that detainees described in their demands for basic dignity. Instead of contracting out incarceration, the U.S. should reinvest in community-based alternatives like case management, bond hearings, and legal orientation programs that ensure appearance at immigration court without locking up people who have not been convicted of any crime.
Representative Sherrill, Senator Kim, and Senator Menendez are right: no one should profit from immigrant misery. The 6% revenue increase for GEO Group in 2025—fueled by ICE contracts—shows the perverse incentive at the heart of this system. Every delay, every denial of access, every use of pepper balls against protesters is a choice to protect profits over people. The hunger strike is a testament to the desperation of those detained and the urgency of abolishing private immigration prisons.
The humanitarian alternative
Congress should immediately revoke ICE's contract with GEO Group for Delaney Hall and redirect funds toward community-based alternatives to detention. The Alternatives to Detention (ATD) model, which uses case management, check-ins, and ankle monitoring only when risk-assessed, costs one-fifth as much per person and has higher court appearance rates. In parallel, New Jersey should expand its 'Due Process for All' legal representation fund to ensure every detained immigrant has access to a lawyer before bond hearings. For the current detainees, an independent monitor with full access should be appointed by a federal judge, and the Department of Homeland Security should not renew any private prison contracts that fail to meet basic human rights standards.
Falsifiable predictions
What this entry claims will happen, and what data would prove it wrong. The Reckoner revisits these against current reality.
- Delaney Hall will be closed or its contract will be terminated within six months due to sustained political and public pressure.
Grounded in
- Sherrill denied access to controversial ICE detention center as calls for its closure grow - nj.com
- What to Know About Protests at New Jersey ICE Facility
- Making a profit off 'misery': Cory Booker calls for closure of New ...
- Sherrill renews call to close Newark Delaney Hall ICE site - NJBIZ
- New Jersey lawmakers condemn conditions inside Delaney Hall detention center in Newark • The Jersey Vindicator
- Statement by Governor Sherrill on Visit to Delaney Hall
- NJ lawmakers demand Newark ICE center be shut down after visit
- Newark detention center: Congress members call Delaney Hall conditions dire - WHYY
Original source — excerpted
news Escalating tensions at Newark migrant prison draws ire of lawmakers"Calls for the closure of a notorious private immigration jail in Newark, New Jersey are growing by the day after 300 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaine..."