Newark, NJ mayor raises alarms over reports of chaos at ICE facility

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is raising alarms over reported chaos and inhumane treatment of migrants at a private prison in Newark contracted by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Delaney Hall, where Baraka was arrested during a clash between elected officials and federal agents last month, has barred members of Congress and local officials from inspecting the newly re-opened facility.

On Thursday and Friday, multiple news outlets reported that the facility had been withholding food from prisoners and potential violence in the facility.

ICE has not provided any update on conditions there and none of the reports have been confirmed independently.

"We are concerned about reports of what has transpired at Delaney Hall this evening, ranging from withholding food and poor treatment, to uprising and escaped detainees,” Baraka said in a statement. “This entire situation lacks sufficient oversight of every basic detail — including local zoning laws and fundamental constitutional rights.”

Videos posted to social media showed federal agents confronting protesters, who were apparently blocking vehicles from entering and exiting the premises.

News outlets initially reported that some detainees may have escaped but Newark officials said that has not been verified and it appears everyone is accounted for.

Spokespeople for ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday morning.

A group of nonprofits that have been speaking with families of detainees at the facility, including the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, sent out a press release Friday morning suggesting that a "protest and strike” started in one of the units – which could have been related to anger over inadequate meals.

The prison is run by the for-profit company GEO Group which advocates said is providing inadequate food at “irregular intervals,” missing meal times and leaving detainees “hungry and weak for hours.”

Baraka was arrested at Delaney Hall on May 9 while conducting an oversight visit and charged with trespassing. A federal judge later dismissed the case.

Prosecutors filed felony assault charges against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a Democrat representing New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District, who was caught in the scrum with Baraka and others that day.

A federal grand jury indicted her earlier this week, and she called the case “a brazen attempt at political intimidation” by the Trump administration.

This is a developing story and has been updated.