Darren Lyn
25 May 2026•Update: 25 May 2026
US lawmakers visited detainees at a migrant detention center in the US state of New Jersey over the weekend who are waging a hunger strike to protest inhumane living conditions, according to local media reports Sunday.
The move came as lawmakers plea for the Trump administration to improve the "unsafe" and "unconstitutional" environment there.
US Sen. Andy Kim and Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. made a visit to Delaney Hall in Newark to see the conditions firsthand at the controversial migrant detention center amid the hunger strike by 300 detainees at the facility, which has the capacity to hold up to 1,000 inmates.
After taking a tour of the facility, they said the conditions need to be improved and called for the release of everyone being held there after interviewing some of the inmates.
"They talked about inhumane treatment. They talked about the poor food. They talked about the water tasting disgusting," Kim told reporters after touring the detention center. "I myself drank from the fountain. It's certainly problems that we need to make sure we're following up on."
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill issued a statement Sunday calling for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to close the facility altogether.
"I'm deeply disturbed by reports of the poor conditions at Delaney Hall. Unsafe, inhumane and unconstitutional living conditions are completely unacceptable," said Sherrill. "I have long opposed private detention facilities and advocated against them. I will continue to call for the closure of Delaney Hall because of reports like these."
The hunger strike began Friday, after detainees told immigration and human rights advocates that they "would stop eating and stop working" indefinitely until conditions improved and, ultimately, until they were freed.
DHS officials issued a statement Friday evening flatly denying that a strike was even taking place.
"There is no hunger strike at Delaney Hall at this time," DHS, which oversees ICE, said in a statement.
A video call with detainees by supporters outside the detention center contradicted DHS's denial.
"We're not treated like people," said the detainee who was on the video call. "We're treated like animals."
Kim and Menendez said the stories told to them by inmates were alarming.
"You have fathers, you have grandfathers, you have mothers, you have grandmothers -- that is who ICE is holding in Delaney Hall right now," Menendez said in a statement. "And the clear message was, 'Why are we here? Why are we here?' Why is it acceptable to Americans that these are our neighbors that are being held in there?"
Kim said he spoke with dozens of detainees, who described "rotten food, denied medical care and a judicial process moving too fast to be meaningful."
"I mean, this is a farce of a situation," Kim said in a statement. "It is not reflective of our Constitution, of our laws, of how people, anybody in this country, should be treated."
DHS maintained in its statement that "detainees have access to clothing, bedding, showers, soap and medical care and that the meals are reviewed by certified dietitians." The department also said that "being in detention is a choice," pointing detainees toward self-deportation options.
Sherrill said she will continue to press DHS and ICE to acknowledge and, ultimately, fix the inhumane and unsafe conditions being reported by inmates.
"I have contacted ICE to gain access to the facility, and my office remains in close coordination with our federal delegation and with advocates, and I commend their continued oversight and work to hold DHS accountable," the governor said. "I will continue working with our partners to closely monitor the situation and to do what's necessary to ensure humane conditions."
