Immigration detention center Delaney Hall reopens in Newark as lawmakers demand answers Toni Yates has more on the pushback by lawmakers. Toni Yates has more on the pushback by lawmakers. Toni Yates has more on the pushback by lawmakers.
Toni Yates has more on the pushback by lawmakers. NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) — Lawmakers in Newark are demanding more information since the opening of a detention center for migrants near the city's waterfront. The hall is a private, for-profit facility with room for more than 1,000 people.
Mayor Ras Baraka said ICE renovated Delaney Hall without the proper work permits, inspections, and certificate of occupancy, posing safety risks. He's filed a complaint in county court. "We're going to stand against it as much as we can, using the letter of the law to do so.
Obviously, they aren't listening to the law, they're not listening to the Supreme Court, they're not listening to the federal court, or the superior court in New Jersey. It puts us in a precarious situation," Baraka said. Delaney Hall is fully operational now.
The privately owned detention facility by The GEO Group holds a contract with the federal government to house people arrested by ICE. Newark joined various community organizations and elected officials months ago to try to keep the then-shuttered facility from being reopened after it was closed by the Biden administration years ago. The city insists it's operating without proper city permits and not allowing inspections.
The GEO Group Inc. responded to the allegations by email saying in part, "The Delaney Hall Facility has a valid Certificate of Occupancy that has been issued by the City of Newark and complies with all the contracted health and safety requirements. This attempt by the Mayor's Office to stop the operation of a lawful federal immigration processing center at the Delaney Hall facility in Newark is another unfortunate example of a politicized campaign by sanctuary city and open borders politicians in New Jersey." "The fact that these people have the audacity to first, grab detainees and put them in an unsafe place, speaks to what they think about humans in general," said Kenyatta Stewart, Newark city attorney.
"The City of Newark welcomes jobs and economic growth, but not at the expense of human life, liberty, and the pillars of democracy, such as due process. It's insulting that The GEO Group would tout the fact they've hired city residents when in reality this was a manipulative ploy to win local support," Mayor Baraka said in response to the GEO Group's statement. The website Lawfaremedia.org lists the hundreds of lawsuits now filed against the federal government.
While the Trump administration continues to defy various court decisions, immigrant organizations are pushing for more support from elected officials, like Gov. Phil Murphy, whom they accuse of standing on the sidelines, silent. "For Governor Murphy not to say a word about the atrocities that are happening in his state it's a shame.
And we need elected officials to stand up to Trump, to stand up against the anti-immigrant, the mass deportation agenda," said Viri Martinez of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. In the meantime, immigrant organizations say thousands of families live in fear. "We're getting cancer survivors, cancer patients that are receiving deportation orders, we had a wave of people last week that are following the rules, following the legal process.
The letter might as well have been written by Tony Soprano. It's a threat. 7 days, get out, figure it out," President and CEO of La Casa de Don Pedro Inc. Peter Rosario said.
Months ago, what the government described as a Homeland Security raid in the Ironbound stirred up fears that led to people not only not showing up to work but taking their children out of school for fear of being targeted. Groups in Newark are asking for a better way to handle immigration. "Instead of us opening more money-making detention facilities, let's focus on what does immigration reform look like instead of going into our community and basically kidnapping folks," Hazel Applewhite with Ironbound Community Corporation said.
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