Editorial: Clash at NJ ICE detainment facility spotlights the cruelty and folly of Trump's immigration policies

The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 1, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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The immigrants held at Delaney Hall in Newark, N.J., are sadly emblematic of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

Most of the men and women inside the 1,000-bed facility will have no criminal record — let alone be the “worst of the worst” — and were detained while going to work, dropping their kids off at school, or out grocery shopping. Some of them may have shown up to court or a scheduled appointment with authorities and ended up behind bars.

They are now trapped in a detention system that has a long record of complaints of abuse, harsh living conditions, poor medical care, and limited accountability — even under presidents concerned with following the rule of law. Today, emboldened by an administration in which cruelty is the point, it is not unreasonable to consider that a difficult situation has likely become nightmarish.

That Delaney Hall sits less than five miles from the Statue of Liberty is the kind of irony that should deeply shame every American.

Detainees at Delaney have cited crowded conditions, lack of climate control, poor food quality, lack of access to clean water, and other issues. Many have no idea when their cases will be heard.

Last June, four people escaped from the facility after detainees were reportedly served slices of bread instead of a meal, the last straw in what were allegedly already deteriorating conditions. At the time, New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim questioned whether the facility was physically up to the job, noting that the outside wall the escapees broke through was “essentially just drywall with some mesh inside.”

The GEO Group, which runs the jail, said immigrants detained were treated well and claimed there was no widespread unrest.

A year later, Delaney remains a flashpoint, as crowds of protesters have surrounded the building in support of hunger-striking detainees. Lawyers for the immigrants and their families have alleged that the facility forces people to sleep on the floor and take showers with no heat, that detainees are sometimes not fed or given rotten food, and that people with medical conditions cannot consistently access the care they need.

In a statement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security claimed otherwise, insisting it has higher standards than “most U.S. prisons.”

Kim, who returned to tour the facility on Monday, spoke about some of what he saw inside. In a thread posted on social media, he wrote that Delaney Hall is home to a pregnant woman unable to access obstetric care, a woman who suffered a miscarriage without medical attention, and a mother who was prevented from seeing her 4-month-old baby for more than a few minutes at a time.

As he left the detention center, the senator was caught in the middle of a standoff between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and protesters. Video shows him attempting to de-escalate the tense situation, only to be pelted by water bottles thrown by some in the crowd. Images later show Kim‘s eyes being washed out after he was pepper-sprayed by federal agents in the chaotic scene.

Kim, along with New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, and U.S. Reps. LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez have been at the forefront of opposition by elected state officials against the facility. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker visited Delaney Hall on Wednesday and said the scene inside was chilling.

“This is not who we are as a nation,” New Jersey’s senior senator said. “This is a moral stain on who we hope to be and profess to be.”

The conditions at Delaney Hall demand an immediate fix, and immigration requires a long-term solution by Congress. Neither is likely as long as a Trump-besotted GOP controls the House and the Senate — but the midterms are less than six months away.

Even closer is America’s 250th birthday.

It bears remembering that New Jersey is known as the Crossroads of the American Revolution, and while the clash at Delaney Hall is no Battle of Princeton, the principles at stake are much the same.

If, as Booker said, this is not who we are. If our national character demands we protect the most vulnerable among us, then Americans today must again stand up against tyranny and defend the rights the founders fought for.

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