The facility has now been ‘secured and hardened,’ the border czar said.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey will not be shut down, White House border czar Tom Homan said on June 2.
Protests have been held at the facility for many days, with immigration activists, rioters, and Democratic lawmakers asking for greater transparency on the conditions inside the facility.
“You got Democratic lawmakers on Memorial Day making false allegations about the facility, about the food, the medical care, hunger strikes. I went into that facility. I went to the medical. I went to outdoor recreation, indoor recreation. I even made a surprise visit this weekend and walked into the cafeteria and ate the same meal that the detainees around me were eating,” Homan said in a June 2 interview with Fox News.
“There wasn’t any abuse. There’s no inhumane conditions. … That facility is well run. And the governor keeps saying she’s going to keep raising hell until this facility shuts down. Well, I got news for the governor. That facility isn’t going anywhere. We’re going to enforce the law. We’re going to detain people and remove people.”
Last week, Reps. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) visited the facility.
In a May 27 post on X, Nadler said the conditions in the detention center were “deeply disturbing” and called for shutting down the facility. “The medical neglect—denying people access to potentially life-saving care and withholding necessary medicine—is abhorrent,” Nadler wrote.
On May 28, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called for the Delaney Hall detention center to be “closed down,” and alleged that ICE did not give the state Health Department full access to the facility.
In a May 25 statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dismissed such allegations, highlighting that detainees receive three meals a day, clean water, shower facilities, bedding, clothing, soap, and toiletries. The individuals have access to phones, lawyers, and medical care.
“In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” DHS said.
In his interview, Homan said that the Delaney Hall facility is now “secured and hardened” to deal with rioters.
The border czar said that previously local law enforcement agencies “wouldn’t respond to 911 calls from our officers who were being attacked.” After talking with officials, the issue has been addressed, and “we got local law enforcement, state law enforcement to finally do their public safety job,” he said.
