Roughly 300 people locked up inside an immigration detention center in New Jersey are on hunger strike inside the facility, where detainees have alleged deteriorating and inhumane conditions and a dangerous lack of due process.
The strike follows similar actions in California, where at least 20 immigrants at the Desert View Annex in Adelanto have been on hunger strike for nearly a week to bring attention to allegations of unsafe drinking water and a lack of necessary medical care.
The actions join growing unrest inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers across the country, where immigrants, lawyers and members of Congress are demanding urgent attention to the growing numbers of people in sprawling, prison-like facilities where the vast majority of detainees haven’t been accused of a crime.
“We feel vulnerable and, in a way, kidnapped — detained without justification — not to mention that we are being tortured physically and psychologically due to the poor food resources provided in these detention centers,” immigrants at the Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey wrote in an open letter last week.
Protesters outside the facility have held standoffs with police guarding the building. Gabriela Soto, who is four months pregnant, has spent several days outside the building to demand the release of her husband Martin, who has been held inside for months.
As protests continued for a third day on Sunday night, a group tried to block a white van from leaving. Soto, who is a U.S. citizen, alleges her husband was inside.
“They were pulling and dragging him into the van,” she told CBS News New York. “He was screaming and banging on the window. That’s why everyone here is blocking it because they’re not going to let my husband be deported or sent away.”
ICE arrested Martin Soto four months ago while he was buying diapers, according to his family. A judge has barred his removal from the facility while a legal challenge is ongoing.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill join protesters on Monday. She said she was denied entry into the facility.
The governor is “deeply disturbed” by the allegations.
“Unsafe, inhumane and unconstitutional living conditions are completely unacceptable,” she said in a statement. “I have long opposed private detention facilities and advocated against them. I will continue to call for the closure of Delaney Hall because of reports like these.”
Homeland Security has repeatedly denied allegations of medical neglect, often stressing that medical care inside ICE facilities is often the best that a detainee may ever receive.
Last week, the agency denied that detainees in New Jersey were on strike. ICE policy only considers a lapse in eating to be a hunger strike after a detainee has not eaten for 72 hours, after which medical staff are required to be involved.
The Independent has requested comment from Homeland Security.
The 1,000-bed facility opened May 1, 2025, and is run by private prison contractor GEO Group.
Several Democratic members of Congress who represent the state say the facility is plagued by filthy bathrooms, inadequate medical care and abuse from guards. Detainees also say they have been pressured to accept deportation to far-flung nations in Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where global health authorities are battling a growing Ebola outbreak.
“These are the types of tactics that shows the cruelty is the point,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) told reporters during a visit to the facility on Saturday.
Detainees also allege they were arrested without warrants despite having scheduled appointments with immigration agencies and in immigration court, where judges are overwhelmed with ICE caseloads.
Kim said one immigration judge in the district will have a docket loaded with 74 cases this week.
“How can any judge have 74 cases before them?” Kim asked Saturday. “This is clearly a farce. That is not justice.”
Rep. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) told reporters that there are “no criminals in there.”
“You have a daughter who should have been graduating high school. You have a pregnant woman in there. You have a woman who suffered a miscarriage in there. You have fathers, grandfathers, mothers, grandmothers,” he said. “That’s who ICE is holding in Delaney Hall right now.”
Menendez and fellow New Jersey Democrat LaMonica McIver have also introduced legislation that would guarantee lawmakers’ access to detention centers like Delaney Hall without giving advance notice.
Earlier this month, two California Democrats were handed a new memo that requires them to “specifically identify” who they’re meeting with — and give at least a two-day notice — while they were making an unannounced visit at an ICE detention center in California.
McIver — who is still facing federal charges over last year’s scuffle with federal officers and protesters outside Delaney Hall — said detainees at the facility are “being abused behind closed doors.”
“How much suffering do we need to see until we put a stop to this?” she said in a statement last week. “We have warned this administration repeatedly of these conditions and their response has been to try to put me in prison.”
Detainee strikes and congressional visits are among several tactics putting pressure on Donald Trump’s administration over ICE detention centers, which have been accused of keeping thousands of immigrants in poor conditions without legal access as the president accelerates his mass deportation campaign.
Roughly 70,000 people are in ICE detention centers at any given time.
More than 30 people died in ICE detention in 2025, the deadliest year for ICE detainees in more than two decades. At least 18 people have died in ICE custody so far this year.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced plans to close down the independent watchdog tasked with reviewing civil rights complaints and other allegations of misconduct inside detention centers. DHS blamed funding lapses after the government shutdown.
