ICE opens new immigrant detention center in Newark, riling Mayor Baraka

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Monday slammed the reopening of the Delaney Hall detention facility for immigrants facing deportation, arguing the site had not yet been fully inspected, including for compliance with fire safety laws.

Baraka said city fire inspectors who sought to enter the building Monday morning were turned away. A federal judge previously ordered the GEO Group, the private contractor operating the facility for the federal government, to allow city officials to complete an initial inspection of the site, which found some violations, Baraka said.

“We will return to court,” Baraka said at a press conference on Monday morning. “This is blatant disregard for the courts, blatant disregard for laws.”

GEO Group spokesperson Christopher Ferreira said in a statement that the Delaney Hall facility has a valid certificate of occupancy issued by the city of Newark and "complies with all the contracted health and safety requirements."

"This attempt by the Mayor’s Office to stop the operation of a lawful federal immigration processing center at the Delaney Hall facility in Newark is another unfortunate example of a politicized campaign by sanctuary city and open borders politicians in New Jersey to interfere with the federal government’s efforts to arrest, detain, and deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens in accordance with established federal law," he said in the statement.

Ferreira added that the reopening has created hundreds of unionized jobs, with an average annual salary of $105,000, and it is expected to contribute $50 million to the local Newark economy.

The City of Newark filed a lawsuit in state court against the GEO Group early last month, asking a judge to halt construction and bar the reopening of the Delaney Hall facility, which previously operated as an ICE detention center, before closing in 2017.

In the state claim, the Baraka administration alleged that security guards and onsite staff at Delaney Hall barred city officials from entering the facility at 451 Doremus Ave. for required inspections, in violation of city and state law.

Newark’s claim was later transferred to federal court and remains pending. In a court filing, the Trump administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss the case, calling the suit "aggressive" and a "legally unjustified effort...to interfere with federal immigration enforcement."

Last week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia heard oral arguments about a New Jersey law that bans private immigration detention contracts. A state Supreme Court judge struck down part of the law two years ago, calling it “naked interference” with federal immigration law.

The reopening comes as the Trump administration looks to ramp up ICE arrests for what President Trump has promised will be the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.

The 1,000-bed Delaney Hall detention facility is slated to be one of the largest U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers in the Northeast and would double immigration detention capacity for New York and New Jersey.

ICE spokesperson Christine Cuttita said in a statement that the agency started holding detainees at Delaney Hall on May 1. She did not say how many detainees were being held.

The GEO Group was awarded a $1.2 billion contract to operate the facility for 15 years, according to the federal government’s contracting database. The company owns the site and will provide security, maintenance, food service, medical care and legal counsel, business leaders said in the company’s quarterly earnings call in February.

The GEO Group operated the Delaney Hall site as an ICE detention facility for six years, from 2011 to 2017. And ICE has been planning a facility in Newark for years, long before Trump returned to office. ICE solicited applications for an immigration detention center contract near Newark last summer.

In court filings, the GEO Group said that requests to enter the Delaney Hall site, including for inspections, must be cleared with ICE. On March 31, when Newark officials arrived at the site requested to inspect the facility, ICE said they would need to schedule an appointment to enter, the GEO Group said in court filings.

City officials later scheduled inspections after the lawsuit was filed and found a couple of dozen safety issues related to plumbing, fire codes and electricity, according to the New Jersey Globe.

“We are afraid and opposed and alarmed by them setting up a detention center, where they continuously violate peoples’ rights,” Baraka said.

This story has been updated with comment from GEO Group spokesperson Christopher Ferreira.