New Jersey sues Geo Group, private operator of Delaney Hall ICE facility

The attorney general of New Jersey on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the private company operating the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, demanding access for health officials amid allegations of “inhumane and unsanitary conditions”.

Immigrants locked up at the federal detention center in Newark began a hunger and labor strike more than 10 days ago to protest against conditions, while demonstrations built up outside that veered into violent scenes after dark.

Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed by Jennifer Davenport, the state’s attorney general, asks the state superior court in Newark to order the private operator, the Geo Group, to grant the New Jersey department of health full access to the facility to conduct inspections.

New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, and other elected officials went to Delaney Hall over the Memorial Day holiday weekend after the hunger strike started but a statement from Davenport’s office on Tuesday said: “GEO Group refused to respond to demands by the governor, elected officials, and protesters for full transparency into conditions at Delaney Hall.”

Last Thursday, New Jersey department of health inspectors were allowed a limited inspection of the detention center but, Davenport’s office said, were barred from inspecting crucial areas such as the medical unit, sleeping, bathing and toilet areas.

“If the GEO Group – with a $1bn 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 in a statement on Tuesday.

men in tactical gear stand behind a fence

Comment has been requested from Geo Group, the defendant named in the lawsuit. The plaintiff is Raynard Washington, the commissioner for the New Jersey department of health.

Meanwhile the Democratic governor has come under fire from people protesting against ICE, accusing her of not working harder to gain access to Delaney Hall and then last weekend also for sending in the state police to guard the facility, who immediately got into violent clashes with some protesters after replacing federal ICE officers who had also become violent with protesters.

And on Tuesday, as the lawsuit was being filed by Davenport’s office, activists were protesting outside her office in Newark, also complaining at the ways the attorney general, the governor and the state authorities have responded to the controversy over Delaney Hall.

The Guardian wp:paragraph