Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that no health violations have been found in the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, which has become the latest flashpoint of anti-ICE violence.
Allegations of inhumane conditions, including maggot-infested food, made Delaney Hall a magnet for protesters who became increasingly violent.
But at a Senate hearing Tuesday, when Democratic lawmakers pressed Mr. Mullin about the conditions, the secretary reported that Delaney Hall got a clean bill of health.
“In fact, just recently, the state of New Jersey’s health inspectors went in. They didn’t find one single violation,” Mr. Mullin said.
He added that a “lot of claims were made, and they just absolutely weren’t true.”
Protests erupted in late May outside Delaney Hall after allegations of diseases spreading unchecked inside the facility, detainees being denied medical care and being fed food full of mold and maggots.
At the hearing, Mr. Mullin also rejected reports of hunger strikes at the facility. He said a “handful” of illegal immigrants detained at Delaney Hall refused to eat because they demanded “ethnic right food.”
He previously pushed back agianst complaints about the food by saying, “They can go back to their country and get whatever food they want.”
Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel, didn’t buy the secretaries’ explanations. He cited three letters sent to the Trump administration from roughly 300 detainees.
“It won’t shock you that there’s no mention of ethnic food in these letters,” he said. “These letters allege that there has been spoiled food, delayed medical treatment, sewage backups, undue pressure to sign deportation paperwork.”
Mr. Mullin said the detainees’ complaints were unfounded.
“We have twice the square footage at Delaney Hall than the state penitentiary does in New Jersey,” he said. “They said that the medical condition was horrible. We had twice as much medical staff per person than the state penitentiary does in New Jersey.”
The demonstrations outside Delaney Hall, which have been a daily occurrence since late May, grew increasingly hostile with protesters storming police barricades, setting fires in the street and hurling glass bottles, rocks, lumber and fireworks at police.
Federal and local law enforcement responded with force, including pepper spraying protesters.
Mr. Mullin said that officers have been hit by projectiles and car windows were smashed.
Sen. Katie Britt, the Alabama Republican who chairs the panel, said that First Amendment rights have legal limits.
“Be clear, all Americans have the right to protest the government, and you will meet no bigger supporter of the First Amendment than myself,” she said. “But the situation we’ve seen unfolding at the facility goes well beyond peaceful protest. It’s devolved into violence and riots, including against law enforcement personnel working to keep Americans safe. It’s simply not acceptable to salt assault ICE officers or obstruct lawful federal operations.”
As many as 60 protesters have been arrested at Delaney Hall as the violence escalated in recent days.
