A hunger strike and work stoppage by detainees at the ICE Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, continued into its third day on Sunday. Detainees say they are being forced to live in inhumane conditions, with inadequate medical care and prolonged uncertainty about their future. What began as a protest on Friday has now grown into a larger movement.
Tensions escalated Sunday evening when authorities reportedly attempted to transfer one of the protest leaders, Martin Soto, to another facility. As news spread among family members and demonstrators gathered outside, protesters blocked the main entrance of Delaney Hall for several hours, chanting, “Free Martin, free them all.”
One of the leading voices in the movement is Martin Soto’s 28-year-old wife, Gabriela Soto, a U.S. citizen who is currently several months pregnant. She has been protesting outside the detention center daily, demanding her husband’s release.
On Sunday afternoon, while waiting in line to visit her husband, Gabriela said she suddenly saw a detainee being rushed into a van. Other visitors told her it was Martin. Hearing the news, the pregnant Gabriela ran toward the vehicle.
“I was banging on the van doors. I couldn’t let this happen,” she later told reporters. “They were trying to quietly move my husband.”
Earlier, Martin Soto’s attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition in New Jersey court seeking to prevent his transfer out of state. A federal judge barred authorities from moving him outside New Jersey. However, because the order did not prohibit transfers within the state, Homeland Security later confirmed that Soto was moved Monday morning to the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility in New Jersey.
Gabriela also alleged that guards had isolated her husband in a separate cell for eight hours beginning Friday and questioned him repeatedly. According to her, officers asked him: “If we release you right now, would you tell your wife to stop protesting? Did you know your wife was organizing demonstrations?” Martin reportedly responded only, “No comment.”
Gabriela said ICE arrested her husband several months ago while the couple was out buying diapers for their young child in Kearny, New Jersey. The couple, originally from Peru, have been together for ten years.
Many other immigrant families joined Sunday night’s protest. Among them was a mother named Erika, whose 18-year-old daughter was detained after visiting a friend at an ICE facility in Elizabeth. According to Erika, her daughter has not been allowed to leave since.
“My daughter has been unjustly detained for one month and twenty-three days,” Erika said through tears. “She’s still a high school student. Friday was supposed to be her prom, but she couldn’t go. They are treating her like a criminal.”
As night fell, signs of protest could also be heard from inside Delaney Hall, where detainees reportedly banged loudly on metal bars from behind the windows. Outside, families watched with fear, anger, and tears.
Delaney Hall, which opened just over a year ago, is currently the largest immigration detention center in the New York metropolitan area. Nearly 300 detainees have already signed a letter alleging inadequate medical care, unsanitary conditions, and violations of basic human dignity.
Early Monday morning, ICE said approximately 70 protesters had been removed from the gate area. Delaney Hall is operated by the private company GEO Group.
The growing unrest at Delaney Hall has reignited a national debate over U.S. immigration policy, detainee rights, and humane treatment inside detention facilities.
