New migrant jail in Newark begins housing detainees despite legal challenge

A 1,100-bed immigrant detention facility located near the Essex County jail in Newark has started housing migrant detainees despite a legal challenge by Newark officials who sued to prevent the building from opening.

The facility — called Delaney Hall and operated by private prison company Geo Group under a 15-year contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is the largest migrant jail on the east coast. Newark officials have argued that Geo Group did not secure the city permits needed for it to open.

It’s the first immigrant detention facility to open under the second term of President Donald Trump, who has pledged a mass detention and deportation effort. And it’s the first to open in New Jersey after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a 2021 law banning private and public entities from contracting to detain immigrants. A federal judge struck down the portion of the law that pertains to private companies in 2023, though a panel of federal judges heard the state’s appeal of that ruling last week.

ICE officials said statistics on how many people are detained at Delaney Hall will be available in the coming weeks.

The news was first reported by the New Jersey Globe.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat running to become our next governor, said during a press conference Monday morning that the city will go back to court for the “blatant disregard for laws.” The city fire inspector was at Delaney Hall Monday and was not allowed in, according to Baraka.

The mayor said he doesn’t know how many people are jailed inside the facility.

Geo Group spokesman Christopher Ferreira said Delany Hall has a valid certificate of occupancy issued by the city and complies with all health and safety requirements.

“This attempt by the Mayor’s Office to stop the operation of a lawful federal immigration processing center at the Delaney Hall facility in Newark is another unfortunate example of a politicized campaign by sanctuary city and open borders politicians in New Jersey to interfere with the federal government’s efforts to arrest, detain, and deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens in accordance with established federal law,” he said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Justice in an April legal filing called Newark’s move to prevent the reopening of Delaney Hall an “admitted, aggressive, and legally unjustified” push to interfere with federal immigration enforcement.

Delaney Hall previously held immigrant detainees from 2011 to 2017. There’s another privately run immigrant jail located in Elizabeth.