Newark officials threaten more legal action if they don’t get access to Delaney Hall

By Andy Rose, CNN

(CNN) — As clashes between law enforcement and protesters have brought nationwide attention to the Delaney Hall immigration facility in Newark, New Jersey, the city threatened Tuesday to expand its lawsuit against the private company that operates the detention center unless city officials are allowed to inspect it.

“GEO (Group) is a private company who is hiding under the auspices of a contract that they have with the federal government,” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said in a news conference.

“This is a private facility – private workers – and they are subject to state and municipal laws,” he added. “They cannot be shielded by a contract that they have with Homeland Security.”

The 1,000-bed site is owned and operated by The GEO Group, a private contractor that manages 21 Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, according to its website.

Longstanding complaints about the operation of the facility came to a head over Memorial Day weekend when detainees, according to their representatives, began a hunger and labor strike to protest conditions inside that they said were inhumane. The allegations helped precipitate days of protests outside the facility, some of which led to demonstrators’ arrests.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied there was a hunger strike and pushed back against allegations of inhumane living conditions.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
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