Citing medical neglect, lack of sanitation, spoiled food, denial of bond, and coercion to sign legal documents that result in deportation, over 300 women and men detained at Delaney Hall, a New Jersey immigration detention facility run by the private, for-profit company GEO Group have reportedly been on a labor and hunger strike since May 22.

On June 2, the attorney general filed a lawsuit against GEO Group, demanding that the company grant health inspectors access to the facility. GEO Group has not yet responded to requests for comment from several news outlets.

As the strike continues, detained people have reported that officers have retaliated by beating, pepper spraying, or transferring them to other facilities. Outside the facility, ICE and local law enforcement have clashed with, and used force against, protesters who have gathered in support of the hunger and labor strike.

Dangerous and inhumane conditions are a significant problem at other immigration detention centers nationwide.

Investigations by Human Rights Watch over the years have shown health care at several immigration detention facilities to be inadequate, sometimes contributing to preventable deaths. The federal government's gutting of oversight bodies has made it harder to check abuses, and the 2026 mortality rate in ICE detention is on track to be the highest in 20 years.

Because of worsening detention conditions and the administration's expansion of its mandatory detention policy, people in detention have turned to signing voluntary departure agreements, often despite having a legal right to stay in the US. New York and New Jersey immigration courts saw a 1,373 percent increase in voluntary departures between July and October 2025 compared to the same period in the previous year.

The strikers detained in Delaney Hall are calling for DHS to "release medically vulnerable, elderly, pregnant, and young detainees." They are also asking to meet with the New Jersey governor, for immigration judges to meaningfully review their cases, for federal courts to review their habeas petitions, and for DHS to end pressuring detained people to sign voluntary departure agreements or deportation documents.

State and federal leaders should urgently address the allegations of abuses and inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall as a step towards ending abusive detention practices nationwide.

Source: Human Rights Watch