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At least 200 labor activists, union members, and community activists rallied outside of Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday, in a show of solidarity with those detained in the immigration jail.

The demonstration was held on Father’s Day to show solidarity with the parents detained in Delaney Hall and their families. It was organized by Labor Eyes on ICE, a coalition of unions and activist groups that has worked to build labor solidarity with those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Delaney Hall and elsewhere, over the past year. The alliance includes unions and organizations in New Jersey and New York, including HPAE Local 5094, Professional Staff Congress-CUNY; Newark Library Workers; 1199 SEIU; and the North and Central Jersey chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America.

At the rally, activists held signs and banners that said “An Injury to One Is an Injury to All” and “Free Them All.” They also held signs saying “Support the Women at Delaney Hall,” in reference to the women detained in Delaney Hall’s Unit 1, who announced on June 11 that they were joining the ongoing hunger and labor strike and put forward their own gender-specific demands.

Over 300 people detained at Delaney launched the hunger and labor strike on May 22 after releasing letters describing the inhumane conditions within the jail, which is run by for-profit prison company GEO Group. The hunger strikers have faced repeated retaliation from both ICE and GEO Group staff, including beatings, teargassing, and the transfer of a majority of the striking men.

Union activists spoke at the rally, stressing the importance of labor solidarity with the detainees. Three mothers whose husbands were kidnapped by ICE and imprisoned at Delaney also spoke, with their children by their side. Among those speakers was Gabriela Soto, who initiated the protests in solidarity with the hunger and labor strikers outside Delaney Hall on May 22. In a powerful speech with her toddler in her arms, she said that her husband, Martin Soto, was “illegally detained back on February first, for going out to get diapers.”

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

ICE and GEO Group saw her husband as the instigator of the hunger strike – despite the fact that it was a collective effort – and........

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