A privately operated immigration holding center on Newark Liberty International Airport’s industrial fringe is under intense scrutiny after a night of disorder that left four detainees on the run and renewed questions about the role of for-profit prisons in federal immigration enforcement.
The 1,000-bed complex, Delaney Hall—run by Florida-based contractor Geo Group under a 15-year, roughly $1 billion agreement signed shortly after former President Donald Trump took office—only began accepting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transferees in May. Within weeks, community advocates warned that tensions inside were rising.
Those warnings proved prescient late Thursday when, according to defense attorney Mustafa Cetin, about 50 detainees staged a sit-in over limited access to legal counsel, sparse medical care, and what they called punitive meal practices. “My client described mounting frustration that boiled over,” Cetin said Friday. “No contingency plan was evident once the protest escalated.”
Videos posted to social media show uniformed officers pushing demonstrators away from an ICE transport van at the center’s entrance while onlookers chant. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official, speaking on background, confirmed that the disturbance coincided with the escape of four migrants whose identities have not been released. Local, state, and federal agencies are now collaborating on the search.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was briefly detained last month after attempting a surprise inspection of the site, said reports of “food deprivation, rough handling, and last night’s breakout” underscore why New Jersey moved in 2021 to bar new private-prison contracts—an action ICE bypassed by classifying Delaney Hall as a renovation of an existing facility.
“This episode demonstrates the constitutional and moral hazards of outsourcing detention,” Baraka said, renewing his call for unfettered municipal and congressional oversight.
Representative LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), facing misdemeanor charges stemming from her own clash with guards during a June visit attempt, called the latest turmoil “predictable and preventable,” pledging to push for a federal audit of the contract.
ICE officials said operations at Delaney Hall resumed Friday morning under heightened security. Advocacy groups, however, are demanding an independent investigation and immediate access for attorneys and medical personnel.
As the hunt continues for the escapees, the confrontation has become a fresh rallying point for critics of hard-line immigration tactics—and a reminder, they argue, that privatized detention can amplify, rather than resolve, systemic failings.
