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Detentions At Delaney Must End
Detained community members at Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey, have been on and off a sustained hunger and labor strike. You've probaly seen the news coverage and social media posts, or perhaps this UU World article: With Detainees on Hunger Strike at ICE Facility in New Jersey, UUs Protest in Solidarity, even the Facebook post by Rev. Sofía Betancourt, PhD, UUA President.
The situation remains highly volatile. Detainees and advocate groups have reported severe human rights abuses, including being served food contaminated with worms, extreme temperature issues, and catastrophic medical neglect. Coverage details below.
Protesters are Siding With Love in solidarity. Many Unitarian Universalists are involved in the fight to hold Delaney Hall to account. This is part of the larger fight against such facilities nation wide (Also take our action on that specific topic).
Tell Congress to investigate and provide oversight.
Take Note of July 13th
Join in faithful witness and prophetic action as we Unitarian Universalists show up, with others, for families at Delaney Hall. Join the tapestry in the broader fight to end family detention and create a fair and welcoming country. This event will be held in Union County, and we will follow up with the location.
Background:
The Delaney Hall Detention Center situation in Newark, New Jersey, remains highly volatile following a major hunger and labor strike launched by hundreds of civil immigration detainees. Detainees and advocate groups have reported severe human rights abuses, including being served food contaminated with worms, extreme temperature issues, and catastrophic medical neglect. Local and federal officials have continually demanded that the privately run ICE facility be shut down. This has led to an ongoing legal showdown between the State of New Jersey and the operator, GEO Group, which has repeatedly blocked state health inspectors from entering the medical and housing blocks. Outwardly, the facility has faced massive daily protests that have resulted in violent clashes with masked ICE agents, the pepper-spraying of a U.S. Senator, local curfews, and a recent vehicular assault on a peaceful demonstrator outside the gates.
Recent Coverage:
- Delaney Hall is reshaping how ICE runs its detention centers, Salon
- N.J. health inspectors say they were again denied full access to Delaney Hall, NJ.com
- New Jersey health inspectors denied full access to Delaney Hall again, [Gov.] Sherrill says, The Jersey Vindicator
- ICYMI: Governor Sherrill, Attorney General Davenport, Health Commissioner Issue Statement After Health Inspectors Are Prevented from Conducting a Full Inspection, NJ DOH
- Advocates say Delaney Hall detainees have ended hunger strike, NJ Monitor
- Democrats to Hold Field Hearing on Conditions at Delaney Hall, House Committee on Homeland Security
- ‘We continue the fight for his liberty’: Family members gather to support detainees held in N.J.’s Delaney Hall ICE facility, WHYY
- With Detainees on Hunger Strike at ICE Facility in New Jersey, UUs Protest in Solidarity, UU World
- ‘It’s like they’re kidnapped there’: families tell of distress over ‘inhumane’ ICE jail, Guardian
- Visits to restart at New Jersey migrant detention center as police expand restricted area, Reuters
Delaney considerations at GA 2026, you may have heard about the related kerfuffle at GA 2026:
- We UUs did not affirm the Action of Immediate Witness in solidarity with people held in immigration detention, including those on hunger strike at Delaney Hall and other facilities.
- Instead, we passed the Responsive Resolution “Reaffirming Our Commitment to Immigrant Justice and Relationally Grounded Organizing”, to reaffirm our commitment to relationally grounded organizing and solidarity.
- For more GA related coverage see the UU World Portal.
UU Grounding
As of General Assembly 2024, as Unitarian Universalists, we have agreed to “adopt new language on core religious values.” We agree love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. The values we share include all the following, which we hold as inseparable and deeply interconnected: Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Transformation, Generosity, and Equity. (Read more on the Article II revision process.)
With these agreed core religious values in mind, we also ground our call for a stop to the mass round-up, detentions, and deportations in support of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers and in the following Unitarian Universalist Statements:
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Protect the Dreamers, the Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) with a Pathway to Permanent Residence, 2023 Action of Immediate Witness
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Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience
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Protect the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, 2019 Action of Immediate Witness
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End Family Separation and Detention of Asylum Seekers and Abolish ICE, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness
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Build Solidarity with our Muslim Neighbors, 2016 Action of Immediate Witness
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End Immigrant Child and Family Detention Now, 2015 Action of Immediate Witness
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Immigration as a Moral Issue, 2013 Statement of Conscience
Detentions At Delaney Must End
Detained community members at Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey, have been on a hunger and labor strike. The situation remains highly volatile.
Protesters are Siding With Love in solidarity. This is part of the larger fight against such facilities nation wide.
Tell Congress to investigate and provide oversight.
Thank you for taking Action!
Thank You!
Please share with anyone else who might be interested
Join in faithful witness and prophetic action as we Unitarian Universalists show up, with others, for families at Delaney Hall. Join the tapestry in the broader fight to end family detention and create a fair and welcoming country. This event will be held in Union County, and we will follow up with the location.
Become a Member!
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) has been the leader for a national UU advocacy movement in Washington, DC., and will continue our efforts, acting from:
- Our conviction that Black Lives Matter
- Our belief that No Human Being is Illegal
- Our care for the planet which sustains us all and merits respect
- Our commitment to a people-centered sustainable economy
- Our stance that this democracy should be inclusive