Andy Kim

The welfare of inmates being held by federal authorities at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark remains a top concern as a hunger strike at the facility continues, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said on Tuesday, May 26.

Speaking a day after U.S. Sen. Andy Kim was pepper sprayed by federal officers outside the detention center, Sherrill said her administration was continuing to weigh its options to seek the facility's closure.

The governor and members of New Jersey congressional delegation had visited the facility on Memorial Day and over the weekend in support of detainees who are protesting their treatment with a hunger strike that started late last week.

Sherrill reiterated that she doesn’t think Delaney Hall should have been opened because New Jersey has a law against privately-run detention facilities. Federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials are leasing the facility from GEO Group.

“I think from the lack of accountability, we’re seeing exactly why they’re a bad idea,” Sherrill said. “I remain opposed to Delaney Hall especially given the recent information; we’ve been having real concerns, not only the concerns about what’s going on inside but that they wouldn’t let me in there.”

The governor said the state is considering its options and will continue to fight so that a proposed facility cannot be opened in Roxbury. She said she's continuing to work with New Jersey's federal delegation, which has oversight authority in Newark.

Sherrill noted that Essex County put up a hospitality tent because it "believes in the right to assembly" but that the federal government instead tried to "ratchet up" tensions by bringing in ICE agents.

Andy Kim pepper-sprayed; Mikie Sherrill denied access

Sherrill’s comments, delivered in Hackensack at an event concerning small businesses in the forthcoming FIFA World Cup tournament, came a day after an eventful Memorial Day at the detention center.

During a confrontation between ICE agents and protesters on Monday afternoon, Kim was pepper sprayed.

The state's junior senator told NorthJersey.com about the “chaos” at the facility and the “lawlessness of the Trump administration” that has led to the conditions inside and out.

The senator said that just to get inside the detention center he had to "personally call [Department of Homeland Security] Secretary Markwayne Mullin and get his intervention.”

When Kim came out he found a “standoff” because ICE had brought out an armored vehicle, and lined in front of that was a wall of armed officers creating a barricade.

Kim said that the protesters present “kind of lined up in front of them” and that he “tried to get in between the ICE officers and the crowd to de-escalate.”

“ICE officials told me that they were going to push through the crowd with their vehicle and they wanted to get some vehicles out of there,” he said. “I tried to arrange a situation where people would not get hurt, where there wouldn’t be a confrontation. Unfortunately, ICE just continued on.”

He said he “immediately saw people getting tackled and brought to the ground” and that ICE “started pushing through with their vehicles.”

Kim said he again ran up to try to put himself between the ICE agents and the crowd to prevent things from escalating when the agents “started shooting at us with pepper balls and using pepper spray.”

“I tried to do whatever I could standing in the middle to keep people safe,” he said.

The strike followed complaints from detainees alleging medical neglect, lack of air conditioning, lack of food, and rotten and spoiled meals. On Saturday, May 23, immigrant advocates alleged that a few detainees involved in the strike were targeted for retaliation. One was threatened with solitary confinement, and at least two others had visit time cut to just 5 or 10 minutes, the advocates said.

What is Delaney Hall?

Delaney Hall opened on May 1, 2025, as a 1,196-bed private immigration detention center, as part of the Trump administration's aggressive push to expand detention capacity.

Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver, Nellie Pou, Analilia Mejia and Bonnie Watson Coleman have been conducting oversight visits to assess conditions.

McIver faces federal assault charges for allegedly hitting a federal law enforcement agent during a scuffle outside the facility last spring.

Kim said that the bigger picture is not about him or the condition he’s in, but it is “representative of the lawlessness that is happening right now.”

“We have to make sure we stay focused on those detainees that deserve more and certainly don’t deserve to be treated the way that they are, to the families that are just trying to look out for their loved ones and trying to push forward,” Kim said.