Congress members visit NJ detention center where advocates say immigrants are on a hunger strike

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Democratic members of Congress visited a federal immigration detention center in New Jersey on Wednesday, where protesters have been demonstrating in recent days and asserting that detainees are on a hunger strike.

U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Manhattan Democrat, said after touring Delaney Hall in Newark that detainees were refusing to eat over what he described as “inhumane” conditions.

“We will shut this center down. We will shut it down,” he vowed after the roughly hourlong visit.

U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman, also Manhattan Democrats, later spoke with protesters and family members of detainees demonstrating outside the facility’s security gate.

“We want to make sure the conditions here are going to be dealt with,” said Goldman, shortly before the two lawmakers entered the facility.

More than 50 people held signs saying “Stop Family Separation” and chanted “Free Them All” and other slogans.

Some shouted directly at the armed and helmet-wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers standing outside, calling them “cowards” and “idiots.”

The protests began Friday and have been tense at times.

On Monday, U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, said he was pepper-sprayed as he and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill led a delegation of Democratic officials who tried to visit detainees but were denied entry.

“Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire,” Kim posted on social media after Monday’s clashes. “Civilians were tackled and restrained, and agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd.”

Gabriela Soto said Wednesday that her husband was among the detainees who participated in the hunger strike before he was transferred to another facility.

“At first it was just 300. Then it became a little bit more. Now, every single detainee inside there is participating. Every single one,” she said, wearing a black shirt that said “Abolish ICE.”

Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said his organization has heard “horror stories” of detainees, including pregnant women, not getting the proper medical treatment for their health conditions.

“Cruelty is the point,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has denied any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside the center and dismissed the criticisms as political posturing.

“The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Wednesday of detainees at Delaney Hall. “This isn’t Holiday Inn.”

In a follow-up statement, DHS said two protesters were arrested for assaulting, resisting and impeding federal officers after ICE officers were sprayed “with an unknown chemical substance” Tuesday night.

“These rioters have OBSTRUCTED law enforcement operations — a felony and a crime,” the statement read. “Local police have refused to answer calls to help our law enforcement. We will not allow violent rioters to slow ICE down. Law and order will be restored.”

President Donald Trump also defended the center’s operations and criticized opponents.

“We run the finest facilities anywhere in the world of their type,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting with Mullin. “There’s nobody that runs a facility like we do.”

Located along an industrial stretch of Newark Bay and run by a private prison company, Delaney Hall has been a frequent flashpoint of protests and clashes between immigrant rights advocates and immigration enforcement officials.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, were among those arrested during protests when the 1,000-bed facility opened last May.

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Marcelo reported from New York. Associated Press photographer Seth Wenig in Newark contributed to this story.