A federal immigrant detention facility in New Jersey is at the center of a debate between Democrats and the Trump administration for the second time in a year.Democratic elected officials showed up outside the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark on Memorial Day and accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of holding hundreds of people in “deplorable” conditions, which led some to go on a hunger and work strike.House and Senate Democrats alleged that the food, medical care, and legal proceedings that detainees inside Delaney Hall received were unacceptable. However, information provided by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, indicates that conditions inside ICE facilities are actually higher than the required conditions many inmates of federal prisons receive.
“ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” DHS said in a statement.
DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis went further and claimed that reports of a hunger strike were false. “This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks. There is NO hunger strike at Delaney Hall. There are NO subprime conditions or abuse at the facility,” Bis said in a statement.
