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Immigrants taking part in the massive hunger and labor strike at Delaney Hall — the privately operated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jail in Newark, New Jersey, where they are imprisoned — say they are continuing to face harsh retaliation in response to their resistance.

Catalina Adorno, a volunteer with the grassroots immigration rights group Movimiento Cosecha NJ, says people inside have been denied visits, phone and video calls, tablets, toilet paper, and access to common spaces. Strikers have reportedly also been pepper-sprayed, beaten, isolated, forced to go to the cafeteria, and transferred out of state.

“This is not the complete list of retaliatory acts we have seen,” Adorno told me, “but I just want to make clear that the retaliation is very real.”

The immigrants at Delaney Hall launched the initial hunger and labor strike on May 22. The strikers issued demands that included the immediate release of all detained people, with urgent priority for elderly people, pregnant people, young people, and people with serious medical conditions; meaningful and fair review of immigration cases and habeas petitions; an end to coercive pressure to sign deportation or voluntary departure documents; and an in-person meeting with New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill so she can observe conditions and hear directly from people inside.

“We deserve to be free and to complete the process at home with our families,” detained people wrote in a May 31 letter. “We demand freedom, a fair trial, and for our rights to be respected.”

Dozens of Women Join Hunger and Labor Strike at Delaney Hall ICE Jail

The letter was written by a detainee named Leonardo, who has since been transferred, and signed by 24 detained people.

More than 300 people initially participated in the strike action, according to reporting by Kevin Ortega-Rojas and Democracy Now! The Guardian has reported that all pregnant women and two 18-year-old women were released from Delaney amid the strike and protests — releases that advocates have celebrated as victories.

In the weeks since the strike began, ICE has transferred hundreds of people out of Delaney Hall. Ortega-Rojas reported on June 11 that nearly 300 detained people had been transferred over the previous weekend, followed by reports that another 80 people had been removed from their units. Some people were released, but hundreds were dispersed to other facilities. Advocates told Ortega-Rojas that they believed the transfers were intended to break up the organizing effort and isolate detained people from their support systems.

The full number of transferred people who participated in the strike remains unclear. Democracy Now! reported that activists believe most of the original hunger strikers were transferred to other ICE jails.

Amid conflicting reports that the strike action had been crushed, women still imprisoned at Delaney Hall announced on June 10 that they were continuing the effort with a hunger and labor strike of their own.

Amid conflicting reports that the strike action had been crushed, women still imprisoned at Delaney Hall announced on June 10 that they were continuing the effort with a hunger and labor strike of their own.

These punitive transfers can separate immigrants from their attorneys, loved ones, and supportive organizers; interrupt medical care; conceal the whereabouts of detained people; and disrupt relationships that facilitate collective resistance.

Amid conflicting reports that the strike action had been crushed, women still imprisoned at Delaney Hall announced on June 10 that they were continuing the effort with a hunger and labor strike of their own.

“We are mothers, daughters, sisters,” the women declared in an open letter. “We do not deserve the punishment that has been inflicted upon us.”

A Leaderless Strike Against Forced Labor and Imprisonment

Adorno from Movimiento Cosecha NJ told me that Delaney Hall should be understood as “a symbol of resistance.” Movimiento Cosecha NJ fights for permanent protection, dignity, and respect for all immigrants, regardless of legal status. Since Delaney Hall opened, the group has worked alongside the Eyes on ICE coalition to provide mutual aid, orient families, connect them with resources, and organize people directly affected by the facility.

“We are not just a service provider, but an organizing vehicle,” Adorno explained. Movimiento Cosecha works to ensure that family members can advocate for themselves and their loved ones in immigration jails. “No one else knows the pain they’re experiencing but themselves, so it’s important that these families are centered.”

Delaney Hall is operated by the GEO Group, a private prison behemoth whose profits surged during the first year of Donald Trump’s second term. In February 2025, ICE awarded the GEO Group a 15-year contract, valued by the company at approximately $1 billion, to operate its company-owned, 1,000-bed Delaney Hall facility. The GEO Group has said the contract could generate more than $60 million in annual revenue at full occupancy.

That deal is emblematic of a rapidly expanding apparatus. A recent WIRED investigation identified more than 150 ICE leases and office expansions underway or planned across the........

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