In recent days, clashes have been occurring in front of the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey. In response, the Attorney General of New Jersey and the city of Newark have filed a lawsuit demanding the closure of the detention center. However, this action has been condemned by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), labeling the lawsuit as “completely baseless”.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka announced on Tuesday (June 2) that the city will be suing the GEO Group, which operates the Delaney Hall detention center, after reports emerged highlighting health and safety hazards at the facility, seeking its closure.
Moreover, New Jersey’s Attorney General Jessica Davenport has also filed a lawsuit against the GEO Group, accusing them of “refusing to allow the health department to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the detention center”.
Shortly after Attorney General Davenport filed the lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security posted a rebuttal on their platform, stating, “This is a baseless lawsuit. Just last week, around 11 a.m. on May 28, four representatives from the New Jersey Health Department arrived. They entered the facility and inspected the kitchen area. After the kitchen inspection was completed, they left around 12:30 p.m.”
Citing reports from media and Democratic lawmakers in Congress, the Attorney General’s office claimed to have found parasites in the food, a lack of hygiene products, poor or missing medical services, and reports of tuberculosis within the facility.
However, according to exclusive information from Fox News, they obtained a non-confidential investigative report, the latest internal investigation report from DHS, showing results inconsistent with the accusations made in the lawsuit.
The investigation conducted by 6 Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) officials and 4 external contractors into the detention center found that “the Office assessed whether the facility met 22 standards… and found that the facility met 17 of them”. The report recommended that the Newark DHS enforcement and removal operations “continue to work with the facility to address any remaining deficiencies as per contractual obligations”.
Nonetheless, Fox News highlighted five areas that did not meet standards from a health inspection last August: issues with ice build-up in freezer units in food services; deficiencies in intake and release processes, failure to collect fingerprints upon detainee release; facility shortcomings in recording room inspection and supervision information accurately; deficiencies in environmental health and safety, improper labeling of on-site cleaning equipment; and shortcomings in suicide and self-harm prevention, insufficient monitoring of detainees.
Fox News pointed out that the organization leading protests at the Delaney Hall entrance is a non-profit group called “Indivisible”, funded by Democratic billionaire George Soros.
Over the past week, multiple socialist left-wing organizations have sent members to cause disruptions in front of the detention center. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin highlighted that the instigators at the facility are “well-equipped”, even mentioning that one instigator traveled all the way from Portland to New Jersey to participate in the unrest.