The GEO Group, which has a $1 billion contract with the government to run Delaney Hall, has retaliated against detainees by transferring those who’ve been on hunger and labor strikes. It’s been nearly a month since the strikes began.

Some transferred detainees have been sent out of state, where they are cut off from family members, legal support and each other. They are moved from Delaney Hall without a chance to say goodbye to their families, according to Eyes on ICE, which has been on the ground supporting detainees’ families for more than a year. Most of the information presented here is drawn from their reports, which are frequently updated.

Initially, most of those transferred – reportedly more than 300 – were men. For weeks, visitation hours have been canceled or limited so it’s unclear if families will be allowed visits on Father’s Day.

Visibility Brigade will be hosting a “FREE DELANEY DADS” Father’s Day vigil from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on June 21.

The event will provide a powerful visual reminder of the suffering happening daily inside Delaney Hall and outside in the hearts and minds of children separated from their fathers.

Last week, the women detained in Delaney Hall renewed their strike in place of those who are gone. Although they are not eating food served inside the cafeteria, they are getting food from the commissary instead and refusing to do the so-called “voluntary” labor that they get paid as little as $1 a day to do. As a result, GEO Group employees have had to clean and perform other services themselves.

Delaney Hall detainees have been subjected to violence, pepper spray and sexual abuse. Earlier this month, Eyes on ICE relayed accounts of detainees continuing to suffer illness or untreated medical conditions at a facility where there is a severe shortage of medical staff, with detainees sometimes waiting weeks to get treatment.

• A man complained of the loss of sight in one eye due to a beating by guards

• A man reported that he is losing his hearing and has a constant headache.

• Recently, ICE agents came through the units daily to try to coerce people into signing deportation papers.

• Many are complaining of stomach aches and pains, and bacterial infections.

Eyes on ICE members also noticed a pattern last week of unsafe releases from the facility. Men from Florida were released without any ID and no transportation. Without ID they can not board a plane and they can not receive a wire transfer.

ICE is counting on new detainees to arrive after strikers have gone, who may not be willing or able to quickly organize a movement to free themselves. They are counting on the protestors to go away, for the politicians to move on, and for the public to lose interest.

That’s why it’s imperative that we don’t let this movement die and fade from public view.

Don’t succumb to powerlessness as ICE operates under the radar and the terror and cruelty is normalized. Sustained effort may yield slow results. It may take months or years. But keep supporting the detainees through peaceful protesting, donations, and showing support for their families.

Keep the pressure on representatives, and work to elect new ones who can end Trump’s mission to purge America of the brown and Black immigrants who have helped build our nation, who love it enough to risk their lives in order to remain.

Find hope in the courage of remaining detainees who refuse to accept their abuse and struggle to make sure their voices are heard.

Last week, women detainees expanded their list of demands to address the abhorrent conditions at Delaney, including a demand that a GEO Group guard accused of sexual abuse be removed from their job.

Please answer calls to action. And read on for a list of how you can help the detainees and their families through donations.

Detainees’ Demands:

● Release all the women, with priority given to women under the age of 21, women with medical conditions, and mothers.

● Initiate and carry to completion independent investigations of all allegations of abuse. Women report that they have made multiple complaints of sexual abuse against a female officer.

● Immediately restore all visitation privileges so that mothers, daughters, and family members can maintain meaningful contact with their loved ones.

● Expand access to legal representation and support. Many women detained at Delaney Hall face complex immigration proceedings without attorneys or adequate legal assistance. Continued pro bono legal representation is needed to ensure individuals have meaningful access to due process.

● GEO must contract cleaning services, so that people are not threatened to do labor for the benefit of a multibillion dollar corporation.

● GEO must immediately hire new qualified medical staff including nurses and doctors available 24/7 to respond to emergencies. Nurses mistreat people and give people incorrect medications, medical attention is routinely denied.

● GEO must immediately replace its current food supplier to meet basic nutritional and health standards. This includes providing healthy high quality meals that accommodate medical, religious, and dietary needs.

● GEO must repair the plumbing and HVAC in particular the second bathroom in the women’s unit and all bathrooms of the facility. In addition to ventilation, air conditioning/circulation, water temperature controls, and drinking water systems.

● GEO must Provide safe drinking water. If safe drinking water cannot be guaranteed through faucets and water fountains, then bottled water should be brought into the units.

● GEO is responsible for providing staff training, accountability systems and oversight, and security personnel changes to ensure dignified treatment of detained people. People inside have reported that among those transferred were people with pending habeas petitions.

What You Can Do:

• Call Gov. Sherril’s office at 609-777-2230. Demand the Geo Group restore visitation hours for all units, all week, at Delaney hall

• Email the deportation officer at Delaney Hall at Maurice.e.williams@ICE.dhs.gov

• Demand the immediate release of all women, starting with those under 21 and those who have medical conditions, and mothers.

Support the detainees and their families.

You can donate to any one of these efforts:

🔗Direct to Families- Linktr.ee/SupportOurFamilies

🔗Grocery Store Gift Card Fund- GiveButter.com/GroceryCards

About Sussex Visibility Brigade

Sussex Visibility Brigade is comprised of Sussex County, NJ community members dedicated to bringing attention and visibility to critical issues and injustices facing America.

About No ICE North Jersey Alliance (Project NINJA)

The No ICE North Jersey Alliance (Project NINJA) is a volunteer coalition of community, religious, environmental, town-planning, civil-rights, and activist groups, working to prevent the establishment and expansion of ICE detention facilities in North Jersey.

Although Newark officers also harmed protestors when the state called for support last week, since city officials assumed jurisdiction on Monday, no one has been arrested, teargassed, tased, shot with rubber bullets, hit with batons or assaulted with a riot shield.

Monday night, when a small group of angry protestors showed up past a 9 p.m. city-imposed curfew, officers – who totaled more than a dozen – did not attempt to dominate them or force compliance. When protestors chanted, “Fuck the Police,” they didn’t respond, according to livestream footage from Status Coup, an independent news platform.

Two weeks ago, Delaney Hall detainees announced a hunger and labor strike at the facility, where deplorable conditions persist, including rotten food, lack of medical care, and access to legal representation. In retaliation, they have been beaten, pepper sprayed and threatened with transfer to an out of state facility.

Family visitation was canceled indefinitely and has since been restored but with limitations and no guarantees. In fact, miscommunications between GEO group and law enforcement yesterday resulted in several families, some from out of state, being turned away. It took advocates from the Eyes On ICE coalition and others to resolve the situation so families could be allowed past the barricades.

In the meantime, families – including young children – were made to wait on the side of the road. The Radical Hospitality Tent manned by volunteers, which usually provides shelter and comfort, was inaccessible behind the police barricades.

The tent, which was unrelated to protests, was also ransacked by the FBI and HSI with many items, like diapers and tea bags, missing. Toys, crafts, and other items for entertaining small children during visitations, were contaminated with the chemicals used on protestors who were there to support the detainees striking.

They are striking to demand a meeting with Gov. Sherrill, who was denied entry to Delaney Hall; an immediate release of the young, sick and elderly; freedom for all detainees; and the facility’s closure.

Throughout much of last week, protesters who rallied to support them – including some who attempted to block vans used to transfer detainees – were attacked by ICE, escalating the anger and unrest. One protestor had his leg crushed after being pushed into an oncoming 18-wheeler by an ICE agent.

Sherrill on May 29 designated a “free speech zone,” and in a disastrous attempt to “cool the temperature,” she dispatched State Police. As tensions flared, they quickly descended upon the crowd, creating a chaotic scene in which many protestor—and some journalists—were injured and 63 people were arrested.

New Jersey State Police didn’t come to stop a riot.

They came to create one.

Only a handful of protestors sought to move beyond peaceful protesting throughout the weekend. Some threw tires on a burning pile of debris, while a few tossed bottles and firecrackers in self defense as other protestors urged them to refrain. But existing tensions were ripe for escalation when New Jersey State Police arrived in excessive numbers, equipped with gear meant for subduing riots.

Sunday night (5/31) ended with mass arrests after protestors were funneled into a “kettle”—a controversial crowd control tactic that confines people to one area with no exit. The bedlam led to media images used to justify state violence.

But the Newark Police Department’s de-escalation efforts this week quickly demonstrated that the State Police response, at the behest of our governor, was not only unnecessary but a cruel suppression of our First Amendment rights.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka criticized State Police tactics and blamed ICE for triggering a conflict that spiraled out of control. “We can’t come out there with shields and busloads of police and pepper spray,’’ he told NPR. “I think that the escalation started with ICE. I think the state police followed that, and they shouldn’t have.’’

If de-escalation was part of Newark’s toolkit at Delaney Hall, the mayor appeared to have forgotten until now. But his statement, and his department’s tactics this week, validates what we’ve been saying all along: A nonviolent resolution was always possible.

After protesters remained past curfew Monday (6/1) and attempted to step past the mile and a half zone around Delaney Hall, which had been delineated to keep protestors away, they were calmly urged to move on by more than a dozen officers in regular uniforms. Protestors shouted, argued, and resisted peacefully but ultimately complied without incident.

Representatives from the Office of the Mayor were also on the scene in yellow safety vests, in addition to Councilwoman Louise Scott-Rountree, who tried to initiate a dialogue. Scott-Rountree, a minister, annoyed protestors by calling for a prayer circle but didn’t provoke them or allow herself to be provoked.

“They can cuss and they can fuss, they can do whatever they want,’’ she said.

And later, she told them, “We thank you for caring. We thank you for protesting.’’

A civilian who was part of de-escalation efforts praised the group’s mission as they vented their anger. “Continue to protest. Continue to fight the power,’’ he said.

On Tuesday night (6/2), Baraka lifted the curfew and the protest zone was expanded to the perimeter of Delaney Hall. A group of protestors arrived chanting, “Free Them All” and “Power to the People’’ as Newark officers stood behind a barricade. The rally began on a positive note and ended peacefully, with participants and officers avoiding confrontation.

“The world is watching. Let us put our focus on the compassionate care of each other as we strive for the liberty and wellbeing of those inside Delaney Hall,’’ Baraka told the media, calling for attention to return to the detainees.

Since his arrest outside Delaney Hall last year, when Baraka joined Congressional representatives in an unannounced oversight visit, the detention center apparently fell off his radar.

We wish it didn’t take a hunger strike by detainees for him to step up again. But this week, at least, he showed the world it’s possible to respect protestors and respond to them without violence.

In the meantime, we will continue to hold Baraka, and all of our public officials, accountable for both their actions – and inaction.

And Mayor Baraka, when you called for the closure of Delaney Hall this week, you forgot something.

Free them all FIRST and THEN shut it down.

Want to help the people held at Delaney Hall and their familes? You can donate to any one of these efforts!

🔗Direct to Families- Linktr.ee/SupportOurFamilies

🔗Grocery Store Gift Card Fund- GiveButter.com/GroceryCards

🔗Commissary Fund- GiveButter.com/commissaryfund

🔗Pantry Bags- Food4NJ.org

Public officials must act NOW.

We were disappointed that instead, Sherrill and her administration focused on restricting and suppressing protestors under the guise of protecting them and “ensuring everyone’s safety.’’

Sherrill dispatched the New Jersey State Police to Delaney Hall, and armed with riot shields, tear gas, and rubber bullets, they guarded the property, where protestors had attempted to block vans used to transfer hunger-striking detainees to other facilities.

Instead of “lowering the temperature,’’ which Sherrill announced as her goal, State Police used tactics that inflamed tensions and left several protestors injured, including those who were obeying commands.

Be clear: Protestors are there because lives are at stake, and no one has effectively intervened. Some detainees have medical conditions that could be fatal if left untreated. There is a severe lack of medical care, which is sometimes withheld as a punitive measure, according to reports.

Family members say their loved ones, who began hunger and labor strikes last week to draw attention to their abuse, have been bludgeoned, assaulted and pepper sprayed for refusing to eat or perform the $1-a-day “voluntary” jobs they are coerced into accepting. They use the money to buy toilet paper, toothpaste and sanitary napkins, which are missing or undersupplied - even though the GEO Group has a $1 billion contract to run Delaney Hall.

The detainees want basic human and constitutional rights:

• A meeting with the governor inside Delaney Hall

• Immediate release of medically vulnerable, elderly, pregnant & young detainees

• Meaningful review of immigration cases

• An end to coercive pressure to sign deportation papers or voluntary separation documents

We understand that Sherrill has limited authority in challenging a vindictive and authoritarian federal government. But both the governor and her administration must demand oversight of Delaney Hall, release all detainees and shut it down permanently.

And they must commit to using restraint when law enforcement is deployed at protests so that conflicts are defused instead of heightened.

Gov. Sherrill insists that she is “protecting constitutional rights” but law enforcement from the state, county, and local offices have continuously violated the rights of New Jerseyeans AND other members of the public over the course of 3 nights (5/29-5/31). These moments have been captured by independent media sources who continuously livestreamed every interaction and witnessed by legal observers on the ground.

Statements made by the Office of the Attorney General have included many falsehoods that push a narrative to justify their repression of free speech and the right to peacefully assemble.

Both the Governor’s statements and the OAG’s about the “violence” of “outside agitators” mirror right wing talking points/myths used to undermine the legitimacy and mission of peaceful demonstrations—setting a dangerous precedent for protestors throughout our state that law enforcement can use such force with little to no justification.

After seeing small clips of the clash between police and protesters this weekend, the public might believe the state had no choice but to quell an unruly, destructive mob. They saw State Police confronted by furious protestors who hurled insults as a pile of debris burned in the distance.

But from the ground, we also saw an elderly man playing cello in an attempt to restore some peace before he was shoved behind the riot line and forced to the ground as he tried to walk away. Moments later, they confiscated his instrument.

We saw medics being chased and pushed as they tried to help injured protestors.

We saw peaceful activists who were trying to retreat blocked from all sides — a controversial crowd control technique known as “kettling,’’ in which protestors are herded into one area and prevented from entering or exiting.

It’s a situation that can create panic and ratchet up tensions rather than ease them, according to civil rights experts. And it can provoke protestors into fighting back, resulting in images that seem to justify their suppression. They claim protestors were ordered to disperse and given time to comply but that in and of itself was a violation of their rights.

According to the ACLU, “Shutting down a protest through a dispersal order must be law enforcement’s last resort. Police may not break up a gathering unless there is a clear and present danger of riot, disorder, interference with traffic, or other immediate threat to public safety.” There was no such threats on any night—despite what the official statements say—and it was not their last resort.

One of the most haunting scenes from these past few nights was the image of a journalist whose knee was hurt badly enough to require a wheelchair. Illuminated by glaring lights, she approached a grim line of State Police armed with riot shields, asking to be allowed through so she could get to a hospital—complaining that she was in excruciating pain. As colleagues assisting her begged permission to pass, officers stood and stared for up to five minutes before moving aside.

This can’t happen again.

We demand Gov. Sherrill and her administration:

• Assume accountability for applying use-of-force tactics that historically escalate rather than defuse conflict.

• Monitor vehicles entering and leaving the facility and provide an accounting of which ones are transferring detainees.

• Scale back excessive police presence at protests. An additional layer of law enforcement between protestors and ICE does more harm than good.

• Communicate with safety marshals from organizing groups so law enforcement can find alternatives to use-of-force at protests.

• When measures outside of the Governor’s jurisdiction can’t be achieved, we want her to stand alongside peaceful protestors, demanding entrance to Delaney Hall. We would like a temporary office established nearby.

• Approve funds to immigrant rights organizations providing free legal assistance to the detainees—that would entail fully funding the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative at the $20 million needed to meet the explosion in ICE apprehensions.

Help us get these demands to Gov. Sherrill. There is a protest planned in Trenton today at 2PM outside of Governor Sherrill’s office. Find more details HERE.

Want to assist with legal fees for those arrested at last night’s protest? Donate HERE to Cosecha New Jersey which is an organization that also supports the detainees and their families.

Please share this article and spread the word. We can’t let the truth of what has happened here be rewritten by institutions that ignore us when we talk quietly and punish us when we yell with our hearts on our sleeves that they need to end the suffering of those detained at Delaney Hall. Free them all and shut it down.

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Want to help the people held at Delaney Hall and their families? You can donate to any one of these efforts!

🔗Direct to Families: Linktr.ee/SupportOurFamilies

🔗Grocery Store Gift Card Fund: GiveButter.com/GroceryCards

🔗Commissary Fund: GiveButter.com/commissaryfund

🔗Pantry Bags: Food4NJ.org