On May 22nd, 2026, approximately 300 ICE detainees being held at the GEO Group-operated Delaney Hall in New Jersey launched a hunger strike to protest poor conditions, spoiled food, mistreatment, and little to no access to medical attention. On May 25th, volunteers and activists gather outside of Delaney Hall to protest in support of detainees where the escalating conflict between federal agents and protesters became not just a flashpoint battle between the Trump Administration’s policy of cruelty and those determined to punch back but a story the mainstream media has somehow chosen to ignore.
The private prison facility of Delaney Hall currently owned and operated by the GEO Group (an American publicly traded C corporation, which invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom) was opened in 2000. Originally designed as a rehabilitation center it transitioned into a high-capacity detention center under The GEO Group after it entered into a fifteen-year contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2025.
It’s difficult to look at the timeline of incidents and events occurring at Delaney Hall after it was reopened in 2025 and not feel that this largest detainee facility (1,196 capacity) as the flashpoint of The Second American Civil War. The first shots fired occurred on May 9th, 2025, when the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was arrested and charged with trespassing after joining three other Democratic representatives from New Jersey (Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver) to conduct an unscheduled oversight visit. While Baraka’s charges were later dismissed, McIver is facing charges of assaulting of interfering with a federal officer.
Since this particular incident, there have been a couple of concerning events, including:
• June 12, 2025 – After having complained for multiple days about inhumane conditions and lack of food, a small uprising occurred that facilitated the escape of four detainees. Two were recaptured within days, with the third and fourth found by July 18.
• December 11, 2025 – Jean Wilson Brutus – a healthy 41-year-old Haitian asylum seeker who “did it the right way” (as Trump and others in the GOP claim to want) by undergoing a four-month vetting process to enter the U.S. with ongoing asylum proceedings – was taken into custody by ICE agents despite his status. Within 24 hours of being at Delaney Hall, he was dead, having suffered a “medical emergency” while in custody. To date, no actual cause of death (“undetermined”) or official autopsy report has been provided by ICE. Brutus’s family and legal representatives have raised concerns and sought an independent autopsy because his official cause of death has remained undetermined.
Brutus’ death was the first death at Delaney Hall since the facility was reopened and repurposed as an immigrant detention centers.
Which brings us to May 22nd, 2026.
Citing appalling conditions, spoiled food containing worms and maggots, unsanitary toilet facilities, poor medical care (with no access to care for those with chronic conditions), and verbal and physical abuse by personnel, approximately 300 detainees launched a coordinated hunger and labor strike. Their demands included:
• Meet with New Jersey Governor Miki Sherrill inside the facility
• Release of medically vulnerable people suffering serious medical conditions
• Immediate release of young and elderly detainees
…and last on their list?
Freedom.
Even before May 22nd, members and volunteers from a variety of organizations, including Eyes on ICE, ACLU, Indivisible, and Democratic Socialists of America, were gathering outside of Delaney Hall. As word of the hunger strike spread, more protestors arrived…and tensions between them and federal agents began to bubble over…exploding into physical confrontations over the Memorial Day weekend (around May 23 – 25) after demonstrators formed human chains to block federal transport vehicles from coming and going. No doubt fearing they were being attacked by an armed hostile military force of some sort, ICE officers responded by arriving to confront the unarmed demonstrators of varying ages in riot gear, using pepper spray and pepper balls against those blocking the road. Among those attacked was Congressman Andy Kim (D – New Jersey) who was struck by pepper balls while attempting to negotiate between the two sides.
After the initial confrontations, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill deployed state troopers in riot gear, with riot shields, some on horseback, using riot lines to – according to Sherrill – “ease tensions.” Unfortunately, the addition of state police served only to further escalate the situation, with protestors throwing bottles and other projectiles at both ICE agents and state police. It was clear to the demonstrators that state police were not there to protect citizens or mitigate tensions. According to multiple on-the-ground reporting, state police worked hand-in-hand with federal agents, deploying pepper spray pepper balls at point-blank range. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka implemented a 9pm curfew to try and curb confrontations, resulting in multiple arrests after protestors defied the order. On June 3rd, Baraka lifted the curfew order citing reportedly increasing tensions.
Since the initial standoff between demonstrators and ICE began, there have been daily clashes, many occurring at night as ICE appears to prefer to act under cover of darkness. The confrontations have also grown more violent, with ICE adding batons to the arsenal they use against demonstrators, rushing into groups who have linked arms to block entryways or vehicles and beating people randomly. To aggravate the heated situation more, Trump supporting counterdemonstrators, some affiliated with the Proud Boys, have shown up to berate, denigrate, and otherwise belittle protestors as being “un-American,” supplying ICE with Trump-related banners and flags that agents have hung on the chain-link fences behind them in a clear move to further agitate and annoy protestors.
On May 31, while the curfew Mayor Baraka was active, three journalists were targeted by ICE and taken into custody, for no apparent reason other than they were present on-site after curfew. Liborio Adorno Castillo, an independent journalist with Radio Cosecha, and two other unidentified journalists, was arrested and held overnight. He stated that he was charged with felony rioting and resisting arrest. Journalists have become a favorite target of ICE at Delaney Hall, clearly representing the transparency ICE desperately needs to avoid providing. The Committee to Protect Journalists and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have condemned the arrests and called for all charges against the reporters to be dropped.
To date, the most graphic, accurate, and balls-to-the-wall reporting has come from independent journalists such as Kevin Ortega-Rojas, Andrew Mercado, senior Rolling Stone writer Jack Crosby, Trivv, and Alexandra Cascio. Using multiple social media platforms to post pictures, video, and live videos, independent journalists have broadcast to the world the fascist methods ICE and state police have and continued to employ against unarmed citizens exercising their Constitutionally protected First Amendment rights. While a few stories have broken through, no major focus has been paid to what is occurring at Delany Hall. Again, credit must be given to those independent journalists who are on-site and providing first-hand coverage, even as they are being assaulted, arrested, and pushed back.
When future scholars study this moment in time, the Battle of Delaney Hall will figure prominently. As of this writing, the demonstrations continue, along with heated clashes between the government and the citizenry fighting back against ICE’s terrorism of marginalized communities. GEO Group lawyers argued in a recent court filing that the company is exempt from legal action because it is subject to government oversight—a function the Trump administration has largely destroyed. Despite claims by GEO Group and the federal government that any hunger strike is even occurring, the hunger strikers have hit GEO Group where it counts. As reported at Mother Jones, it has become difficult for a labor prison – paying sometimes less than a dollar per day – to function and turn any profit when prisoners refuse to work. The labor and hunger strike, combined with the focus and determination of those demonstrating outside the walls, may have fired a shot across the bow of GEO Group’s ship.
The question is: Will GEO Group give in to the hunger strikers…or double down and possibly encourage an even further escalation? Only time will tell, but my Magic 8 Ball says, “Outlook Not So Good.”