On a dreary Tuesday morning, Newark’s Mayor Ras Baraka found himself in a political standoff.
Standing outside the chain-linked fence of the Delaney Hall immigration detention center, Baraka and several representatives from various Newark City agencies demanded to be let in. On the other side, Delaney Hall employees closed the fence, padlocked it, and turned their backs on Mayor Baraka when he asked to speak to a supervisor about entering the facility to inspect if it was in violation of municipal building, health, and fire codes.
To representatives of Delaney Hall, the mayor was staging a publicity stunt. But to the mayor, Delaney Hall was pitting his city in a direct confrontation with the Trump administration’s deportation agenda. Delaney Hall, Baraka claimed, was violating city and state laws by contracting with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and by prohibiting him from entering the facility, they were evading the enforcement of city codes.
The 1,000-bed Delaney Hall, located on an industrial zone with a putrid stench of gas and raw sewage, is operated by GEO Group, the nation’s largest private prison company. Between 2011 and 2017, Delaney Hall served as an immigration detention center before being converted into a drug treatment center and halfway house until it closed in 2023.
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However, in February, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that, as part of a 15-year contract estimated at $60 million a year, Delaney Hall would reopen and operate as an immigrant detention center. While many immigrant advocate organizations opposed its opening, according to local news reports as well as reports from the community, the detention center began housing detainees last Thursday. The GEO Group did not divulge how many people were currently allegedly detained at Delaney Hall.
In April, the city of Newark filed a lawsuit to block Delaney Hall from reopening and to allow city officials to inspect the facility for code violations. The Trump administration has since attempted to intervene to stop the lawsuit.
For nearly three hours, the mayor and his staff, along with over a dozen protesters who chanted “Say it loud, say it proud, immigrants are welcome here,” waited to be allowed in.
Nearby, two bulldozers from the Newark Department of Public Works, each carrying a large concrete slab, were parked nearby as a veiled threat to the detention center’s management, insinuating that if they do not comply with the city’s mandates, the mayor might order the facility to be barricaded.
When asked if he planned to place barricades outside the facility, Baraka, who is currently running for governor of New Jersey, smirked and stated he was entertaining the idea.
“We’re thinking about it, but honestly, I don’t want to put Department of Public Work workers at risk, but if anybody is going to block it, I will.”
Baraka said that the city initially was allowed onto the property for an inspection after they filed their lawsuit, finding dozens of safety violations, but he did not elaborate on what kinds of violations they were. When the city returned for another inspection on Monday, Baraka says they were turned away.
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“We need to see and need to see the violations they have, if they fixed them, if they addressed them,” he said. “Fire officials could go anywhere they want to go when they come into a property to check any building and check the codes. They have a right to do that. So do health officials.”
According to Baraka, a newly married woman was arrested by ICE at an immigration office in Newark last week and was currently being detained at Delaney Hall.
“It’s one of the reasons why we’re down here, we’re trying to verify that they, in fact, have this lady in there who is no criminal and who has not done anything but try to become a citizen of the United States,” he said. “We think that’s problematic; that’s a moral fight.”
Newark’s fight to close Delaney Hall is only the latest chapter in New Jersey’s years-long battle against immigration detention. In 2021, the state passed a law that banned private companies, as well as local municipalities, from signing contracts to operate immigration detention centers.
But last year, the GEO Group, Delaney Hall’s operator, sued the state to block the law on constitutional grounds. The case is currently working its way through the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, and a final decision is months away.
Outside the gates, Dante Apaéstegui, a 26-year-old member of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, was one of the many protesters who were angered by the reopening of the facility.
“The reason we are here today is because GEO Group has failed to comply with the city’s laws and regulations,” he said. “They think they can just hide behind the federal government and behind Trump’s plan for mass deportations.”
After several hours of waiting, Baraka spoke with the building’s manager. Following a tense conversation at the fence, the mayor returned to the crowd.
Baraka was told that he was not permitted to enter the facility without authorization from ICE, and if they continued to be present at the property, they would be considered trespassing.
“I think ICE right now not responding to us, is a little cowardice,” he said. “They need to step up and answer to what’s happening here. They can’t say they don’t have control of the building and it’s not their property, and then let these guys hide behind the fact it’s an ICE facility.”
In response to being barred from entry, the mayor said they would begin issuing citations to the GEO Group.
“We’re going to give a citation for not allowing us in yesterday, a citation for not allowing us in today, and another citation for locking the fence up,” he said.
In saying the mayor was only engaging in a publicity stunt, GEO Group pointed out that Delaney Hall has a valid Certificate of Occupancy issued by the City of Newark and complies with all the contracted health and safety requirements.
“The Mayor and City Officials have been advised multiple times, both directly and in court proceedings, that access to all federal immigration processing centers is governed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the agency has established processes in place for the screening and clearance of all individuals requesting access,” said Christopher Ferreira, the GEO Group’s director of corporate relations in a statement to Documented on Tuesday. He added: “The Mayor has chosen to blatantly ignore these established processes to advance his political agenda, and in doing so has put the safety and security of our employees at risk and demonstrated a complete disregard for the safety of the individuals housed at the facility.”
When asked what he was planning to do next, Baraka assured the crowd that he would continue to fight to gain entry into the facility.
“I can tell you this, though, we are going to keep coming down here every day until they let us in,” he said. “We are going to be back tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that, and we’re going to just keep coming until ICE shows up or somebody shows up to give us answers.”
