New Jersey ICE Detention Center ‘Isn’t Going Anywhere’: Tom Homan

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey will not be shut down, White House border czar Tom Homan said on June 2.

Protests have been held at the facility for many days, with immigration activists, rioters, and Democratic lawmakers asking for greater transparency on the conditions inside the facility.

“You got Democratic lawmakers on Memorial Day making false allegations about the facility, about the food, the medical care, hunger strikes. I went into that facility. I went to the medical. I went to outdoor recreation, indoor recreation. I even made a surprise visit this weekend and walked into the cafeteria and ate the same meal that the detainees around me were eating,” Homan said in a June 2 interview with Fox News.

“There wasn’t any abuse. There’s no inhumane conditions. … That facility is well run. And the governor keeps saying she’s going to keep raising hell until this facility shuts down. Well, I got news for the governor. That facility isn’t going anywhere. We’re going to enforce the law. We’re going to detain people and remove people.”

Last week, Reps. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) visited the facility.

In a May 27 post on X, Nadler said the conditions in the detention center were “deeply disturbing” and called for shutting down the facility. “The medical neglect—denying people access to potentially life-saving care and withholding necessary medicine—is abhorrent,” Nadler wrote.

On May 28, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called for the Delaney Hall detention center to be “closed down,” and alleged that ICE did not give the state Health Department full access to the facility.

In a May 25 statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dismissed such allegations, highlighting that detainees receive three meals a day, clean water, shower facilities, bedding, clothing, soap, and toiletries. The individuals have access to phones, lawyers, and medical care.

“In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” DHS said.

In his interview, Homan said that the Delaney Hall facility is now “secured and hardened” to deal with rioters.

The border czar said that previously local law enforcement agencies “wouldn’t respond to 911 calls from our officers who were being attacked.” After talking with officials, the issue has been addressed, and “we got local law enforcement, state law enforcement to finally do their public safety job,” he said.

In recent days, authorities have taken action against several violent protestors at the Delaney Hall facility.

On May 29, state police designated certain areas outside the facility gates as protest zones and implemented vehicle checkpoints. The police also took charge of operations outside the detention center, replacing ICE officers in the role.

Newark, where the facility is located, issued a curfew near the detention center after violent protests on May 30. In a June 2 update, the City of Newark announced the end of the curfew and the designation of free speech zones.

Access to Health Inspectors

This week, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport filed a lawsuit against The GEO Group Inc., which runs the Delaney facility, according to a June 2 statement from the New Jersey governor’s office.

The lawsuit asks the court to grant the state’s Department of Health full access to the detention center.

“If the GEO Group—with a $1 billion government contract—has 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.

“The people of New Jersey deserve transparency and accountability, and I will continue using all the power of this office to advocate for the detainees and their families.”

The Epoch Times reached out to The GEO Group Inc. for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

DHS said in a June 2 statement that ICE arrested several criminal illegal immigrants from New Jersey over the past week, including sexual predators, violent assailants, burglars, and murderers.

“While sanctuary politicians and leftist agitators spread false smears about the Delaney Hall ICE facility, the brave men and women of ICE are still hard at work removing criminal illegal aliens from New Jersey,” Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary at the DHS’s Office of Public Affairs, said.

“These sanctuary politicians need to stop peddling false smears about ICE detention facilities and start thanking ICE law enforcement officers for getting these thugs off New Jersey streets.”