When Our Community Is Harmed, We Will Not Be Silent: ICC Calls for Accountability at Delaney Hall

When Our Community Is Harmed, We Will Not Be Silent: 

ICC Calls for Accountability at Delaney Hall 

Photo by: Ironbound Community Corporation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 30, 2026

Contact:
Francis Nunez
Director of Advocacy and Organizing
fnunez@ironboundcc.org
(973) 465-0555, ext. 11

Newark, NJ – Ironbound Community Corporation refuses to accept a reality in which human beings are hidden behind locked doors, cut off from their families, and denied basic dignity in our own city.

The reports coming out of Delaney Hall are alarming and demand immediate action. Accounts of inadequate medical care, insufficient food, poor living conditions, and barriers to communication with loved ones point to a system that prioritizes detention over humanity. Regardless of how someone arrived in this country or where they were born, no person should be subjected to conditions that strip away their dignity and basic rights.

What is happening at Delaney Hall is not occurring in isolation. It is part of a broader climate of fear that has left immigrant families across Newark – and across the country – wondering whether they can safely go to work, take their children to school, seek medical care, or participate in the life of their community. The consequences extend far beyond the walls of any detention facility. Every detention, every family separation, and every act of intimidation sends shockwaves through neighborhoods that have helped build this city for generations.

ICC has spent more than five (5) decades standing alongside working-class families, immigrants, and residents whose voices are too often ignored by those in power. We know that strong communities are not built through fear. They are built through trust, opportunity, and the recognition that every person deserves respect and the chance to live with dignity.

We stand with community members, faith leaders, advocates, and elected officials who are demanding answers and accountability. We support the right of people to peacefully assemble and speak out against injustice. Newark has a proud history of residents organizing, advocating, and refusing to remain silent when members of our community are harmed. The calls for transparency surrounding Delaney Hall are not radical — they are necessary.

Delaney Hall is located on the “chemical corridor” of the East Ward where more than six (6) major polluting facilities operate within a 1-mile radius of Delaney Hall. Detained individuals and their visitors – as well as those who work there – are in immediate and overwhelming risk of contaminants, some of which are cancer-causing and put people at risk for major health issues.

Our first call is for Delaney Hall to be closed for this purpose. Moreover, while in operation, we call on federal authorities and facility operators to immediately provide full transparency regarding conditions inside Delaney Hall, guarantee access to adequate medical care, ensure regular communication between detainees and their families, and permit meaningful oversight by elected officials and independent observers. The public has a right to know what is happening inside a detention facility operating in the heart of our city.

We also call on our elected leaders at every level of government to move beyond statements and take concrete action to protect immigrant families and uphold human rights. Newark’s residents deserve leaders who will stand firmly on the side of dignity, accountability, and justice.

At this moment, our greatest responsibility is not to look away. It is to listen to those directly impacted, support families living in fear, and insist that every person — regardless of immigration status — is treated with humanity.

The measure of a community is how it treats the vulnerable. Newark must be a city where human dignity is defended without exception and where no one is rendered invisible behind a fence, a locked gate, or a detention center wall.

“The people detained at Delaney Hall are not strangers to us. They are members of families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities – whether having been living in Newark or transported here. Their treatment is a reflection of our collective values as a society. When dignity is denied to any member of our community, all of us have a responsibility to speak out. ICC will continue to stand with immigrant families and demand accountability, transparency, and respect for the humanity of every person.” Hazel Applewhite, CEO, Ironbound Community Corporation

For 56 years, Ironbound Community Corporation has stood alongside immigrant families and working-class communities in Newark. We have advocated for housing justice, environmental justice, economic opportunity, and immigrant rights because we believe that every person deserves to live with dignity and respect. We will continue to speak out when members of our community are denied those basic principles.

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Ironbound Community Corporation’s breadth of services includes: early childhood education, after-school and summer programming, family and senior services, domestic violence support, financial education and empowerment, environmental and housing justice advocacy, and community organizing. Learn more at www.ironboundcc.org.