The Standing

A daily, non-partisan record of US democratic norms — and the events that erode them.

    ICE transfers most Delaney Hall hunger strikers out of Newark jail in apparent retaliation

    As a hunger and labor strike at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE jail entered its third week, immigrant-rights advocates said most of the hunger strikers had been transferred out of the GEO Group-run facility to other ICE jails in apparent retaliation for the protest. The strike, which began May 22 and was initially led by an estimated 300 detainees, centers on demands that include firing a female guard accused of sexually assaulting at least 10 detained women. Human Rights Watch and the ACLU have separately documented retaliatory transfers, the use of force, and abysmal conditions at the facility.

    Jurisdiction
    federal
    Location
    Newark, New Jersey

    Abuses documented

    Actors

    • U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
    • GEO Group

    On June 10, 2026, immigrant-rights advocates said that most of the detainees on hunger and labor strike at Delaney Hall — the Newark, New Jersey, ICE jail operated by the for-profit GEO Group — had been transferred out of the facility to other ICE jails in recent days, in what advocates described as retaliation for the ongoing protest. The strike entered its third week after beginning on May 22, when an estimated 300 detained people stopped eating and working to protest conditions inside.

    Among the strikers' central demands is the firing of a female guard accused of sexually assaulting at least 10 detained immigrant women. Strikers have also called on the Department of Homeland Security to release medically vulnerable, elderly, pregnant, and young detainees, to allow meaningful review of their immigration cases, and to stop pressuring detained people into signing voluntary departure or deportation documents.

    Human Rights Watch reported on June 3 that detained people described being "beaten, pepper sprayed, or transferred" to other facilities in response to the strike, and that the New Jersey attorney general had sued GEO Group on June 2 to compel access for health inspectors. The ACLU has documented that the Delaney Hall strike is one of at least six active hunger-and-labor strikes in immigration detention nationwide, and that ICE met detainees and protesters with force.

    The precise date of the mass transfers is approximate; reporting on June 12 described the transfers as having occurred "in recent days," and June 10 is recorded as the most defensible date pending more specific sourcing.

    Why we recorded this

    People held in immigration detention retain the right to protest the conditions of their confinement, and the government is obligated to hold detainees humanely rather than punish them for speaking out. Transferring hunger strikers to other facilities in response to a peaceful protest scatters organizers, separates them from their lawyers and families, and turns the machinery of detention into a tool of retaliation. We record this because punitive transfers and the credible allegation of sexual assault by a facility guard reflect abusive conditions in immigration enforcement and the mistreatment of incarcerated people — conduct that an accountable system is meant to prevent and remedy, not inflict.

    Sources

    1. Detained Women Join Hunger and Labor Strike at Delaney Hall ICE Jail in NJ — Democracy Now! primary accessed June 12, 2026
    2. New Jersey Hunger Strikers Allege Abysmal Detention Conditions — Human Rights Watch investigative accessed June 12, 2026
    3. Hundreds at Delaney Hall Join Detained People Across Country in Hunger Strike Against Inhumane Conditions — American Civil Liberties Union secondary accessed June 12, 2026

    See also