NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Tuesday said that the city will be expanding its lawsuit against the private contractor that operates controversial ICE detention center Delaney Hall in an attempt to shut it down, and criticized the deployment of state police amid increasingly tense protests over the weekend.
A 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew established for civilians within a half-mile of the center could end as soon as tonight, Baraka said, after speaking with Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Acting New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport about bringing in the Newark Police Department to keep the peace, as opposed to state officers. Sherrill deployed the New Jersey State Police on Friday after a week of escalating clashes between demonstrators and ICE agents.
But the deployment didn't help the situation, Baraka said, with run-ins between protesters and officers leading to multiple injuries and at least 29 arrests. The mayor noted that Sherrill is supportive of his move to bring in Newark cops.
"I think the state police used their training—unfortunately, their training was not appropriate for what was happening in this area at the time," Baraka said. "And they kind of resembled what ICE was doing in the first place."
He also vowed to enlist Newark community teams and street teams—most of whom are not police officers—to speak with the crowds and uphold First Amendment rights.
Newark will be expanding its lawsuit against the GEO Group, which operates Delaney Hall, in a continued effort to get it closed down. The GEO Group did not respond to 1010 WINS' request for comment.
This announcement comes the same day that the attorney general's office filed a similar suit against the company, demanding that the court grant the New Jersey Department of Health full inspection access. Davenport called reported conditions inside Delaney Hall "shocking" in a post on X, highlighting claims of "bad or no medical care, no toilet paper, worms in food ... [even] a report of tuberculosis."
"If ICE and the GEO Group—with a $1 billion government contract—have nothing to hide and the conditions inside Delaney Hall are as safe and as sanitary as this private corporation and the Trump Administration claim, then there is no legitimate reason why my health inspectors are being kept from full access throughout the building," Sherrill said.
Protesters have been gathering outside the hall for over a week as reports of detainee hunger and labor strikes inside the facility over poor conditions circulate—though the Department of Homeland Security denies such strikes. Demonstrators are also rallying against the center's temporary suspension of family visitation rights.
In addition to the Department of Health, numerous elected officials have been denied entry to Delaney Hall.
"What we have to understand as elected officials and activists, is that we can't have the attention turned to the escalation that's going on outside and away from what's happening in the property," Baraka said.
