Inspection of Delaney Hall ICE facility contradicts claims in New Jersey attorney general's lawsuit
FIRST ON FOX: An inspection of the Delaney Hall ICE facility contradicts some claims made by New Jersey elected officials as the facility’s operator faces a new lawsuit from the state’s attorney general.
Just hours before activists from the Democratic Socialists of America and other far-left organizations held a demonstration in front of her office, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced that the state is suing GEO Group Inc., which the Department of Homeland Security contracted to operate the ICE facility.
The unclassified investigation, which was obtained by Fox News Digital, is the most recent investigative report conducted by the DHS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) at Delaney Hall. The conclusion of the investigation, conducted by six internal OPR officers and four outside contractors, didn’t align with some claims made by the attorney general’s lawsuit.
"During the inspection, [the Office of Detention Oversight] assessed the facility’s compliance with 22 standards… and found the facility in compliance with 17 of those standards," the inspection’s conclusion read.
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The report said that it recommends that DHS Enforcement and Removal Operations in Newark "continue to work with the facility to resolve the deficiencies that remain outstanding in accordance with contractual obligations."
The attorney general’s office cited reports of media outlets and Democratic members of Congress as the basis for the lawsuit, claiming that worms were found in food, toilet paper wasn’t being provided, bad or lack of medical care was present, and a report of tuberculosis.
Fox News Digital identified the five standards that weren’t met in the investigation from last August.
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The investigation found deficiency in food services for ice build-up in the freezers, admission and release deficiency for not fingerprinting detainees upon release, deficiency in holding room facilities for not properly recording checks on hold rooms and custodial information, deficiency in environmental health and safety for not properly labeling cleaning equipment on site and deficiency in suicide and self-harm prevention for not monitoring detainees for the proper amount of time.
DHS punched back at the lawsuit in a post on X shortly after it was issued by the attorney general.
"This is a frivolous lawsuit," the post read. "Just last week on May 28, four representatives of the New Jersey State Health Department arrived at approximately 11:00 AM. They entered the facility and inspected the foodservice department. The inspection of the kitchen was completed and they departed around 12:30 PM."
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The attorney general and Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill have faced mounting pressure from far-left and socialist groups over Sherrill’s deploying of state police during riots that took place outside of the facility.
On Monday, Indivisible, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by Democratic billionaire George Soros, protested outside Sherrill’s Trenton office, demanding that the governor stop working with DHS and shut down the Delaney Hall facility, accusing Sherrill of spreading "MAGA propaganda" and criticizing her for working with DHS to secure the facility.
Despite deploying state police who clashed with rioters last Friday night, Sherrill claimed on an X post Saturday morning that local law enforcement was there to protect the agitators from ICE agents.
On Tuesday, Democratic Socialists of America, "Climate Revolution Action Network," "State of Liberation Jersey City" and other groups protested outside of Davenport’s office, saying that "Mikie and her AG" must "meet the demands of the detained Delaney Hall hunger strikers; and stop brutalizing protesters in the name of ‘public safety.’"
A number of nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations have been mobilizing rioters in front of Delaney Hall over the past week, including the brutal clash between New Jersey state police and rioters last Friday night.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin noted that agitators at the facility were "well supplied" and said one agitator flew to New Jersey from Portland just to participate in the unrest.
A number of rioters have been arrested, and during the demonstration in front of Davenport’s office, agitators called for the release of protestors detained during the riots.
"Drop all charges and free protestors who exercised their constitutionally protected rights to protest the deplorable treatment of immigrants in New Jersey," the caption of the flyer for the event read.