Democratic members of Congress visited a federal immigration detention center in the US state of New Jersey on Wednesday after being denied entry by some elected officials last week.
The facility in question, Delaney Hall in Newark, has become the latest point of tension over President Trump’s immigration agenda.
New Jersey Governor Mickey Sherrill, a Democrat, said she was denied entry when she tried to tour the center with state lawmakers on Monday morning.
He create a stir in the media.
What happened at Delaney Hall?
Protesters then gathered outside the facility on Friday Word spread that the guards were trying to take a prisoner Involved in an ongoing hunger strike inside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
According to reports, about 300 prisoners began a hunger strike at Delaney Hall last weekend over poor living conditions. New Jersey Monitor.
Lawyers representing some detainees told media outlets that detainees were given expired food and did not have access to medical care.
The Department of Homeland Security has Denied allegations of poor conditions inside the facility and accused New Jersey politicians of “spreading confusion” about ICE.
Lawmakers visit detention center as unrest continues
Adriano Espaillat, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a Manhattan Democrat, said after visiting Delaney Hall on Wednesday that detainees were refusing food over what he described as “inhumane” conditions.
After about an hour of travel, he pledged, “We will close this center. We will close it down.”
U.S. Congressmen Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman, also Manhattan Democrats, later spoke to protesters demonstrating outside the facility’s security gates and family members of detainees.
“We want to make sure that the conditions here will be dealt with,” Goldman said shortly before the two lawmakers entered the facility.
What do we know about the protests outside a New Jersey ICE facility?
The clash between ICE agents and protesters on Sunday became so tense that some protesters sprayed agents with pepper spray after throwing water bottles at them, NBC News reported.
The protests continued on Monday morning, with workers raising slogans and holding placards. CBS News reported that ICE agents in riot gear arrived Monday afternoon to clear protesters blocking the facility entrance.
NBC News, citing ICE data, reported that about 900 detainees were being held at Delaney Hall in early April.
Edited by: Shawn Sinico
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