Employees at Delaney Hall, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, are speaking out publicly after months of demonstrations outside the facility, saying they have become targets of harassment, intimidation, and property damage simply for going to work.
In an open letter published by The Washington Post, workers at the detention center said public attention has largely focused on the detainees inside the facility while overlooking the experiences of the personnel tasked with operating it.
“We are the men and women who work at Delaney Hall,” the employees wrote. “We are nurses, case managers, food service workers, maintenance staff, and security personnel. We live in Newark and the surrounding communities, and we come to work each day to do our jobs and to care for the people in our charge.”
The employees said they felt compelled to speak because “our perspective has been largely absent from the recent coverage of this facility.”
Workers Describe Harassment Outside the Facility
According to the letter, demonstrations outside Delaney Hall have become increasingly hostile in recent weeks.
Employees say protesters have confronted them while arriving for work, filmed them, verbally harassed them, and attempted to block vehicles from entering and leaving the detention center.
Some workers also said their personal vehicles had been damaged during the demonstrations.
The employees added that confrontations escalated to the point where local authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the surrounding neighborhood.
“We understand that people hold strong views about immigration policy,” they wrote. “We are not policymakers. We are employees trying to get to work safely, and the danger and intimidation directed at us have made that increasingly difficult.”
“We Are Not Policymakers”
A recurring theme throughout the letter is the distinction between those who create immigration policy and those responsible for carrying it out.
The employees emphasized that regardless of political disagreements over immigration enforcement, their role is to safely operate the detention facility and care for those housed there.
“Our job is to provide safe, professional, and humane care to the detainees housed at this facility, and we take that responsibility seriously,” the workers wrote.
“Ensuring the safety and well-being of the detainees and of one another remains our first priority.”
They argued that the confrontations outside the facility ultimately make that mission more difficult rather than improving conditions for detainees.
“The disruption outside these walls does nothing to advance the safety of anyone inside them.”
Democrats Raise Concerns About Conditions
The employees’ letter comes as Delaney Hall has become the focus of growing political scrutiny.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers accused the facility of subjecting detainees to poor living conditions.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) alleged detainees experience inadequate ventilation, extreme cold during the winter, excessively hot showers, physical abuse by guards, and shortages of basic necessities.
“The medical conditions of detainees are alarming,” Raskin claimed during the hearing.
Pro immigrant advocates have similarly criticized conditions at ICE detention centers nationwide, arguing that detainees often face inadequate medical care and prolonged detention while awaiting immigration proceedings.
DHS Pushes Back
The Department of Homeland Security has disputed those allegations.
In June, DHS officials argued that conditions at Delaney Hall compare favorably with New Jersey’s own correctional system.
According to the department, inmates in New Jersey state prisons are twice as likely to die as detainees housed at Delaney Hall.
Officials also said the detention center employs twice as many medical personnel as the state’s prison system relative to its population.
DHS cited state data showing that more than 330 inmates died in New Jersey prisons between 2018 and 2024, including 42 deaths in 2024 alone.
A Symbol of the Immigration Debate
Delaney Hall has become one of the latest points of contention in the national debate over immigration enforcement, with supporters of stricter border security viewing the facility as an essential mechanism for removing individuals who are in the country illegally, while critics argue ICE detention centers are overly punitive and in need of reform.
Caught in the middle, the employees who signed the letter say they are paying the price for a political fight they did not create.
Whether one supports or opposes ICE’s mission, they argue, targeting healthcare workers, maintenance staff, and other employees trying to perform their jobs crosses a line.
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