Standing outside Delaney Hall, Newark’s ICE detention center that was re-opened shortly into Trump’s second term, you can often smell rotting animal carcasses. That is because there’s a fat rendering plant nearby. The wind is harsh, the cold feels especially bitter, and whenever trains pass through they honk their horns the entire time. This industrial corner of Newark is not habitable for human beings. Whenever someone expresses interest in volunteering at Delaney Hall, I tell them that I don’t recommend they do so if they have pulmonary issues.
Families line up for an hour before seeing their loved ones. They previously had to wait for longer but the visitation schedule has become more organized in the last few months. Children of all ages attend visitations with whichever guardians haven’t been kidnapped by the state. They have a harder time waiting in line for an hour, so they often run around in the mini parking lot in front of the main guard station.
A loose coalition of volunteers have made a routine of setting up shop on the sidewalk outside the guard station. They bring food, folding chairs, umbrellas (families are forced to wait outside in all weather conditions, with only cold benches and a glorified tent for covering), and most importantly clothes. Clothes are vital because the guards enforce a strict dress code for anyone entering Delaney Hall. Low-cut tops are verboten, as are ripped jeans and shorts of any variety. The guards are arbitrary in who they turn away, relying both on their own prejudices and also how cruel they are feeling on any given day. Babies have been turned away for not having shoes when they’re too young to walk. Children have been turned away for wearing clothing deemed inappropriate by guards. So volunteers at Delaney Hall keep clothes of all sizes on hand for visitors to borrow
I like to count myself amongst the volunteers at Delaney Hall, part of the Eyes on ICE crew, but truth be told I’m far from the most dedicated member. Some attend every visitation day for hours at a time. They become well-known to visitors, Delaney Hall staff and other volunteers alike. People volunteer at Delaney Hall with a variety of life experiences, political positions, religious backgrounds, and reasons for being there, but what I’ve noticed is always a common factor is simple love for humanity, mixed with horror at the suffering in front of us.
Similarly, the visitors are a testament to how wide human connections grow: most are family members but some are partners, friends, and even volunteers. Meeting with visitors, you see the hole each detainment leaves in families and communities, rippling out into a wave of grief and fear.
The treatment inside Delaney Hall is no better than the conditions outside. We receive reports of terrible food and people forced to subsist solely on bread and milk. Very few Delaney Hall staff speak Spanish, so bilingual detainees are put into the position of being interpreters. Detainees who know neither English or Spanish face additional challenges in detention. Many are pressured to sign voluntary deportation papers, and are then forced to pay for their own plane ticket.
Back on the sidewalk, volunteers work to connect families with financial, legal, and other community resources to try to get their family members home. Exorbitant bonds are often required as a condition of release, more than families can afford without assistance. The Delaney Hall volunteer crew also does accompaniments to court hearings, as well as giving rides to and from Delaney to families visiting loved ones. We attempt to provide assistance for all aspects of the detention process, but don’t have the capacity to provide as much help as we would like. More volunteers are needed, especially with the tertiary aspects of detainment such as providing rides and court accompaniment. Funding is also important: many families have lost a financial provider and are struggling to pay for food and rent. But until Delaney Hall is shut down for good, we’ll continue to do what little we can for a fight bigger than all of us.
The NJ DSA Immigrant Justice Working Group has weekly volunteering shifts at Delaney Hall from 7pm-9pm.