Democratic Mayor Threatens to Sue to Shut Down ICE Detention Center

The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, said Tuesday that if the Delaney Hall ICE detention center isn’t closed soon, the city may file a lawsuit.Ras Baraka pointed to reports of the center’s poor conditions, with detainees suffering from serious health conditions. He said that in one report, a detainee suffered a miscarriage and wasn’t given proper care.“It’s troubling, which forces us to expand our lawsuit against Delaney Hall,” Baraka said at a press conference outside of the facility, referring to a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the private contractor that runs the facility, GEO Group.For more than a week, detainees in Delaney Hall have been on a hunger strike due to inadequate food, a lack of proper medical care, and unsanitary conditions. Protesters have shown up outside of the facility and have been met with violence from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Among them was Senator Andy Kim, who was hit with pepper spray last week outside Delaney Hall after attempting to defuse tensions between the agents and protesters.Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin mocked Kim, saying he shouldn’t have been there, and also denied the existence of a hunger strike, making a racist attack on the detainees.“There was only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat, because they want their ethnic group—or their ethnic-right food. Well, they can go back to their country and get whatever food they want,” Mullin said. “The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want. This isn’t Holiday Inn. We’re giving them sanitation.”Kim, Baraka, and other New Jersey elected officials have shown up at the facility and said they’ve seen the conditions firsthand. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has also called for Delaney Hall to be shut down.