DELANEY HALL DETENTION FACILITY
451 DOREMUS AVENUE, NEWARK, NJ 07105
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NYC Council Employee Speaks After ICE Detention
The MS NOW channel reports on Rafael Rubio Bohorquez, a data analyst for the New York City Council, who was released after more than five months in ICE custody. He had been detained during a routine asylum interview on Long Island and faced deportation to Venezuela, despite holding Temporary Protected Status as a Venezuelan national. His case drew public protests, a petition, and political attention, including advocacy from City Council Speaker Julie Menin, and a habeas petition was filed on his behalf before his release.2026-06-30
News article
Former detainee
Video
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City Hall Staffer Released After 158 Days in ICE Detention
NY1 reports that a New York City Hall staffer was released from ICE custody after being held for 158 days. Council Speaker Julie Menin has stated that the individual, identified as Rubio, was illegally detained beginning January 12. The case drew attention from city officials and raises questions about the circumstances of the prolonged detention.2026-06-29
News article
Former detainee
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Delaney Hall Hunger Strike Protests Inhumane Detention Conditions
The ACLU reports that hundreds of people detained at Delaney Hall in New Jersey launched a hunger and labor strike to protest conditions including spoiled food, medical neglect, and other treatment they described as torturous in a letter signed by nearly 300 detainees. The action was joined by individuals held at immigration facilities across the country. ICE agents responded with pepper spray directed at people inside and outside the facility, used force against both detainees and family members gathered in protest, and assaulted reporters covering the demonstrations.2026-06-11
Legal document
Politician
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Detainee Strike Continues Amid Wedding Inside Facility
Under the Desk News, reporting by Lana Leonard and V Spehar, documents an ongoing hunger and labor strike among detainees at Delaney Hall, a GEO Group-operated ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. A nurse named Tracey Sims married her husband Haruna Zakaria, who has been held at the facility for eleven months, in a ceremony he arranged inside the detention center. Despite outside reports suggesting otherwise, sources with direct contact to detainees told the outlet that the organized strike was continuing.2026-06-11
News article
Family member
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Detainees Launch Labor and Hunger Strike at Delaney Hall
The American Friends Service Committee reports that on May 22, hundreds of people detained at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey launched a coordinated labor and hunger strike, timed to coincide with a rally held outside by families and community members. The action followed months of organizing by people held inside the facility, which is the largest immigrant detention center in the Northeast. One affected individual, an 18-year-old high school senior named Ariadna Zumba, was held at the facility for nearly two months before being released in early June amid the ongoing strike.2026-06-22
News article
Former detainee
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Judge Orders Release of Eddy Aguirre Gonzalez Amid Medical Crisis
Attorney Andrew Free, writing in the Detention Kills newsletter, reports that a federal judge ordered the release of Eddy Aguirre Gonzalez from ICE custody after his pre-existing end-stage renal failure became life-threatening during detention at the Essex facility. Judge Brian R. Martinotti of the District of New Jersey found that the extraordinary circumstances of Aguirre Gonzalez’s medical deterioration justified his release under habeas, overriding a mandatory detention statute. The government acknowledged that his condition, previously managed through dialysis before his arrest, had grown emergent while in ICE custody, and conceded that Third Circuit precedent supported relief in such cases.2026-06-04
Legal document
Detained person
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NPR Reports Newark Detention Hunger Strike ICE Denied
NPR’s Code Switch podcast, featuring reporters José Olivares and Sophie Hurwitz, documents a reported month-long hunger and work strike by hundreds of people detained at an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey. Detainees allegedly refused food and labor to protest conditions including spoiled food, inadequate medical care, and overcrowding. The strike drew additional attention because detainees perform much of the facility’s essential work — cooking, cleaning, and laundry — for approximately one dollar per day. Despite the reported scale of the action, ICE disputed that any such strike took place.2026-06-30
News article
Detained person
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NYC Council Employee Freed After 158 Days ICE Detention
ABC7 New York reports that Rafael Rubio, a New York City Council employee from Venezuela, was released from Delaney Hall in Newark on June 19, 2026, after 158 days in ICE custody that began when he appeared for a routine asylum interview on January 12. Rubio, who held Temporary Protected Status authorizing him to live and work in the United States through October 2026, was detained throughout a prolonged legal process that included a deportation order before an immigration judge ultimately granted him asylum on May 27. His release followed continued legal advocacy and support from City Council leadership, though the case remains unresolved after the Department of Homeland Security appealed the asylum grant on June 22.2026-06-27
Legal document
Former detainee
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NYC Council Staffer Rafael Rubio Released After 158 Days
FOX 5 New York reports that Rafael Rubio, a Venezuelan national employed as a New York City Council data analyst, was released from ICE custody and returned to City Hall after spending 158 days detained at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. The report, published June 27, 2026, describes his return following an extended period of immigration detention.2026-06-28
News article
Former detainee
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NYC Council Worker Speaks Out After ICE Release
CBS News reports that a New York City Council employee who was taken into ICE custody in January was released after approximately five months in detention. The individual has since returned home and spoken publicly for the first time about what he experienced while held.2026-06-27
News article
Former detainee
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Chris Hedges Essay on ICE Protests at Delaney Hall
In a piece published on The Chris Hedges Report, journalist Chris Hedges describes the ongoing protests outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, where demonstrators have faced pepper spray, tear gas, tasers, and baton strikes from ICE agents, private contractors, and police. Hedges recounts children leaving the facility in tears after saying goodbye to detained family members, framing these scenes as emblematic of a broader struggle over civil liberties and immigration enforcement.2026-06-19
Testimonial
Detained person
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ICE Pepper-Sprays Senator Kim Outside Delaney Hall
A May 2026 newsletter by Heather Cox Richardson reports that ICE agents used pepper spray against Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey and protesters gathered outside Delaney Hall, a private detention facility in Newark. The facility, operated by GEO Group under a 15-year, $1 billion federal contract, has been the subject of ongoing legal challenges by New Jersey officials who contend it lacks required operating permits. Detainees inside previously wrote a collective letter describing overcrowding, lack of constitutionally guaranteed legal hearings, and pressure to accept deportation to third countries such as Uganda rather than their home nations.2026-05-26
News article
Family member
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New Jersey Police Abuse Protesters at ICE Facility
Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey reports on video footage showing New Jersey police allegedly abusing protesters outside an ICE detention facility. Dr. Rashad Richey and guest Viviana Vigil discuss the incident, which was captured on video and circulated on social media. The segment examines the conduct of law enforcement toward individuals gathered at the facility.2026-06-01
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Public advocate
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Facility Details
Demographics
Female/Male
Avg Daily Population (ADP)
401
Avg length of stay
22 days
Last ICE update: 07/20/2026
Criminals versus non-criminals (ADP)
| Gender | Criminal | Non-criminal |
| Male | 52 | 703 |
| Female | 2 | 55 |
Threat level classification (ADP)
(e.g., On avg, 720 people per day are no threat to ICE)
| No threat | Low | Medium | High |
| 720 | 63 | 23 | 6 |
Security level classification (ADP)
(e.g., On average, 724 people per day are housed in low security)
| Low | Medium | High |
| 724 | 85 | 2 |
Facility type: CDF
(Contract Detention Facility)Last inspection of facility
Inspection date: 08/28/2025
Inspection rating: Pass
Inspection type: ODO
Timeline in our records
Last date we imported a file from ICE: 07/20/2026
First date we received their record: 02/26/2026