New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) on Monday said she was denied access to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark amid protests outside the facility and a hunger strike within its walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The governor said being denied access to Delaney Hall, the detention center, raised \u201cserious questions about what they are trying to hide from public view.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have long opposed private detention facilities and will continue to advocate for the closure of Delaney Hall and against any expansion of mass detention facilities in New Jersey, like the proposed facility in Roxbury,\u201d Sherrill said in a statement obtained by NewsNation, The Hill\u2019s sister network. \u201cI came today to hear from families and advocates, and what I heard from them was heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The Hill that Sherrill\u2019s visit to Delaney Hall was \u201cnothing more than a political stunt on Memorial Day when visitation is currently suspended due to riots outside in the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sherrill was joined by other New Jersey Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Andy Kim and Reps. Rob Menendez Jr., Nellie Pou and LaMonica McIver. The Democrats met with protesters outside the facility following clashes earlier Sunday, when demonstrators said they were pepper-sprayed by ICE officers, WABC reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DHS spokesperson confirmed that Kim was ultimately allowed into the facility after making a call to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The spokesperson did not confirm if Sherrill or the other lawmakers were allowed access into the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mullin denied on social media that detainees were on a hunger strike and said the facility did not have \u201csubprime conditions.\u201d He accused the New Jersey Democrats of \u201csmearing ICE law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protesters have gathered outside the facility since Friday, when organizer Gabriela Soto arrived at the detention center at the start of a hunger and work strike led by detainees, the New York City-based outlet The City reported. Around 300 detainees set up the strike in protest of the facility\u2019s conditions, calling for the release of older and younger detainees, as well as those with health concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soto told The City that her husband, who has been detained since February, was locked in a cell for eight hours while officers questioned him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe people inside Delaney Hall are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, and members of our community,\u201d she said. \u201cIn New Jersey, we believe in the rule of law and that everyone deserves to be treated with basic dignity. We have a duty to safeguard the rights, health, and well-being of everyone within our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DHS spokesperson told The Hill that around 125 demonstrators, \u201cmany carrying anti-ICE signs and Antifa flags\u2026 formed a human chain around entrances to the facility and set up barricades, blocking all entries and exits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers with Sherrill similarly slammed the detention center\u2019s conditions, having arrived on Sunday night to conduct an unannounced oversight visit. Menendez said he was denied access too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was told that I would be able to go inside at 8 a.m., but ICE continues to deny entry,\u201d he wrote on social platform X Monday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pou, Kim and McIver, who each shared photos on X of them meeting with protesters, called for the facility to be shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said earlier on Sunday that he would also go to the detention center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cImmigrants at Delaney Hall are on a hunger strike because they are fighting for their human rights,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cThe conditions there are deplorable\u2026 Enough is enough \u2014 not in New Jersey, not anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DHS spokesperson defended the facility\u2019s conditions, saying all detainees are provided with three meals each day, clean water, clothes, bedding and toiletries, and that ICE \u201chas higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n