I recently visited Newark’s Delaney Hall. I do not use this term lightly, but it functions as a modern-day concentration camp, as it fits the definition: a place where our immigrant neighbors, friends, and coworkers are confined without trial or due process based strictly on their identity.
Inside this private, for-profit facility, operated under a $1 billion GEO Group contract, human beings face horrific conditions. Reports from a 300-person detainee hunger strike reveal systemic medical neglect, filthy sanitation, undrinkable water, and spoiled food containing maggots. This shadow penal system also fuels a quiet tragedy, contributing to the estimated 100,000 children separated from parents by interior enforcement.
When community members gathered outside in solidarity, federal agents met them with excessive force — deploying chemical irritants, tackling journalists, and launching pepper balls into civilian crowds.
Private corporations should not profit from human suffering and the destruction of families. After witnessing this crisis firsthand, I felt compelled to join the protests and add my voice to those demanding an end to this cruelty. I urge my fellow community members to investigate these realities themselves and join the collective effort to end this state-sanctioned insanity.
— Jo Shuman, RN
Cottekill