Detainees inside a Newark immigration detention center are pleading in a new open letter for supporters outside not to give up on them as violent clashes between demonstrators and ICE agents continue outside the center’s gates.
Federal agents struck protesters with batons and appeared to push one into the path of a tractor trailer wheel in a chaotic altercation late Wednesday, video from outside the immigration center shows. Gothamist has not yet been able to identify the individual. Immigrant advocates said at least three people were arrested in the overnight violence, the latest of several confrontations since demonstrators began gathering last Friday amid a detainee hunger and labor strike.
Detainees wrote a letter released through advocacy groups Wednesday that most of the hundreds of people kept in the center have a “persistent flu,” the bathrooms are “terrible and inhumane,” and food has been served “containing worms or in a state of decay.”
“We appreciate the support of everyone who is protesting outside the facility,” they wrote in the letter, the third released through advocates this year. It had about 100 signatures advocates said were from the detainees. “We want you to know that you give us the strength and determination to keep going. Please, DON’T GIVE UP!"
GEO Group, the Florida-based private company operating Delaney Hall on a federal contract valued at $1 billion, denied the letter’s claims. The company said it meets all federal standards, including providing “around-the-clock” access to medical care and dietician-approved meals.
“GEO categorically rejects these baseless allegations, which are part of a coordinated, politically motivated campaign by outside groups to dismantle ICE and federal immigration detention by targeting the government’s facility contractors,” Christopher Ferreira, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security also has consistently denied allegations of maltreatment of detainees.
Detainees across all of Delaney Hall’s housing units are still participating in the hunger strike, though an exact number of people on strike couldn’t be determined, said Catalina Adorno, an organizer with the immigrant advocacy group Cosecha NJ.
The Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning, has previously denied that a strike is happening at all.
“The labor strike is still 100% holding,” said Kathy O’Leary, the New Jersey coordinator for the Catholic advocacy group Pax Christi.
O’Leary said detainees have reported that GEO Group staff are not cleaning bathrooms and food is being served with paper plates as detainees continue withholding their labor. The latest letter says detainees were being forced to work for no pay or for $1 per hour.
Adorno said detainees have also reported that guards are increasingly aggressive and irritated as they try to break the strike.
“ The place is becoming extremely dirty,” Adorno said. “It's starting to smell like feces. Like, the smell is becoming, really, really strong.”
The advocates and U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York said they believe 13 people have been transferred out of Delaney Hall since the strike began. Advocates believe the transfers are retaliation against striking detainees, and demonstrators have sought to block vehicles with detainees from leaving the facility. Adorno said almost all of the people transferred have been women.
“ I think they're trying to target the women’s unit as a way to break all the other units,” Adorno said.
DHS has previously denied that detainee transfers out of Delaney Hall are retaliatory.
Visitation remains suspended indefinitely, according to O’Leary. Thursday afternoons are typically open for family visitation; Adorno said advocates are preparing to greet people who may show up expecting to see their loved ones.
Multiple members of Congress visited Delaney Hall Wednesday, including Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler, Dan Goldman and Espaillat. It’s unclear if more congressional visits are expected Thursday.
Meanwhile, demonstrations outside Delaney Hall continue in a standoff with ICE agents. Tensions have tended to escalate overnight.
At least three demonstrators were arrested overnight, according to Adorno, who was on the scene until 2 a.m. That comes after at least three people were arrested the prior night, bringing the total number of protesters believed to have been arrested outside Delaney Hall since the weekend to six.
Delaney Hall is on Doremus Avenue, an extremely busy industrial corridor that sees heavy truck traffic at all hours.
Around 1 a.m. Thursday, as ICE agents pushed demonstrators back to make way for a van to exit Delaney Hall, videos appear to show a protester pushed by an agent toward a passing tractor trailer. Still images circulated by advocates appear to show the protester’s foot stuck under a truck tire. The extent of any injuries could not be determined.
“The violence and the brutality, that’s what they do,” O’Leary said.
DHS has previously complained that Newark police are not responding to ICE requests for help managing the demonstrations.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka previously told Gothamist Newark police are monitoring the protests, but that he wanted to keep city officers out of the situation as much as possible
“ Their calls were for us to come and move people. …That's their jurisdiction,” Baraka said. “They created that so they have to move people. We're not gonna engage and get our police officers hurt.”
Ryan Kost and Arya Sundaram contributed reporting.
