NEWARK, N.J. — House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and a delegation of New Jersey Democrats said the Trump administration's immigration enforcement is targeting American citizens and families, not violent felons, after speaking with two dozen detainees at the Delaney Hall detention facility. Jeffries said conditions at the ICE center in Newark "shock the conscience."
Jeffries conducted the oversight visit alongside Representatives Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Josh Gottheimer. Rep. Analilia Mejia joined Jeffries at a news conference in Morristown, New Jersey, following the visit.
Democrats said they found unsanitary living conditions, inadequate medical care and unhealthy food inside the facility. Jeffries said not a single detainee he spoke with during his more than hour-long visit fit the description of a violent felon.
He described detainees as law-abiding community members, including tax-paying small business owners and an 18-year-old DREAMer named Ariadna, who was released from Delaney Hall after House Democrats advocated on her behalf.
Jeffries said the Trump administration and House Republicans are pushing to allocate tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to ICE for what he called a "violent mass deportation machine." He said House Democrats will oppose the Republican budget and fight for major reform of ICE.
Democrats pledged to continue congressional oversight visits and said they will work to hold any Trump administration official or private contractor who breaks the law accountable.
The visit follows a Supreme Court ruling on June 25 that allowed the Trump administration to proceed with plans to end Temporary Protected Status for nearly 350,000 Haitian and Syrian holders. The Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of TPS for those groups, effective July 27.
Individuals losing TPS face deportation and the loss of work authorization. The Department of Homeland Security said alternative legal pathways may exist for some to remain and work in the United States. Jeffries called the policy a "cruel immigration agenda."
