The ACLU of New Jersey today sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that raises serious constitutional concerns about the visitation policies at Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in Newark that is owned and operated by The GEO Group, a private, for-profit prison company.

“Visitation with loved ones is essential to the health and well-being of people in detention, their families, and communities,” said Molly Linhorst, staff attorney at the ACLU of New Jersey. “Families and loved ones of people detained at Delaney Hall have reported punitive visitation practices that are more restrictive than prisons in New Jersey. Among the many problematic conditions at Delaney Hall, it should be an easy fix for ICE to ensure that GEO Group is consistently implementing a fair and legal visitation policy for people in their custody.”

According to numerous reports from coalition partners, family members, and the media, the ACLU-NJ has learned that visitation policies at Delaney Hall are strictly limited and enforced arbitrarily. Following the death of Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo, journalists have reported that officers at Delaney Hall denied him visits with his 12-year-old daughter.

Delaney Hall limits visitation to people identified as immediate family members and permits visits only within two specific hour or half-hour long windows each week. Other loved ones, like legal guardians and close friends – sometimes the only support systems for people in detention – have been denied entry. Yet even in the case of immediate family members, as with Mr. Lopez Cornejo, the standards appear to be applied randomly, meaning some families travel long distances only to be turned away without explanation. Family members who have spoken publicly about the conditions inside Delaney Hall or ICE misconduct have also been denied entry for visitation in apparent retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights.

These restrictions are cruel and contribute to the inhumane detention conditions that are designed to coerce people into abandoning their immigration proceedings and accepting deportation. The letter calls for ICE to immediately implement written visitation policies that resolve these constitutional concerns and train GEO Group staff who are operating the facility to ensure the policies are applied consistently and fairly. The letter comes after a detainee-led labor and hunger strike inside Delaney Hall that began in mid-May in protest of the egregious conditions within the facility, as well as the Trump administration’s widespread denial of due process for individuals navigating the immigration system.

As the Trump administration continues to target people across the country under its mass detention and deportation agenda, the ACLU-NJ will continue to hold this administration accountable and defend the rights of all people in New Jersey.