NEWARK - Shut it down.

Shut the damn place down.

This was the message coming out of an oversight hearing of Delaney Hall convened here by Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10), Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02), and the Committee on Homeland Security Democrats.

"Over the last year and a half, Trump and his administration have created chaos across the country with their mass deportation campaign, an effort that began right here in Newark," said McIver.

"Because of my efforts to raise the alarm about ICE's terror at Delaney, I am facing 17

years in prison on trumped up charges from this administration, but I have continued exercising my constitutional duty as a member of congress to conduct oversight of this horrible facility," the Congresswoman added. "...What I have seen and heard has been shocking: detainees, most of whom do not have any criminal charges or convictions, face unsanitary conditions... barely any access to medical care and, worst of all, the lack of due process."

At the hearing, titled “The Human Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Detention: Conditions and Oversight at Delaney Hall,” members of Congress heard from expert witnesses, local leaders, and a veteran who was detained by ICE on the conditions at the facility, the lack of oversight of the facility, and why it needs to be shut down.

Other attendees from Congress included U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, U.S. Rep. Nellie Pou, U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez, and U.S. Rep. Analilia Mejia.

U.S. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) also attended.

Following the hearing in the basement of Newark City Hall, the congresspeople proceeded to Delaney Hall, the embattled private detention center, for an unannounced oversight visit.

For the (FULL!) remarks by Congresswoman McIver at the start of the hearing, please see below:

Delaney Hall is the detention center where the incident, now at the center of the Trump administration’s case against McIver, occurred. That case is ongoing and focuses on the legally protected oversight prerogative of Members of Congress.

Witnesses:

• Mayor Ras Baraka, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey
• Ms. Viri Martinez, Deputy Director of Strategy, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant  Justice
•  Mr. Amol Sinha, Executive Director, ACLU New Jersey
• Mr. Adam Marshall, U.S. Army Veteran Detained by ICE

Please see below for the (FULL!) opening remarks by Mayor Baraka: