‘It’s like they’re kidnapped there’: families tell of distress over ‘inhumane’ ICE jail

Volunteers help escort a man, center right, who was released from Delaney Hall. Photograph: Julius Constantine Motal/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Volunteers help escort a man, center right, who was released from Delaney Hall. Photograph: Julius Constantine Motal/The Guardian ‘It’s like they’re kidnapped there’: families tell of distress over ‘inhumane’ ICE jail As detainees go on hunger strike over conditions at Delaney Hall, relatives describe concern for loved ones’ wellbeing In mid-May, Elder Guerra was showering inside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility when he slipped and fell. Guerra, a Guatemalan immigrant, has been locked up in the New Jersey jail for nearly five months. He was arrested by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Newark in January while helping a friend move his snowed-in car. Officers had approached and asked a few questions, according to a relative who spoke with the Guardian. Guerra has been in the US for eight years and is now fighting his deportation case while inside the detention center, where some of those detained have been on a hunger and labor strike to protest conditions, and which has been the scene of fierce protests for the last two weeks. ‘We are not criminals’: protests erupt as hunger strike rocks New Jersey ICE jail Read more Guerra’s fall was a bad one. He slammed the back of his skull against the floor and was knocked unconscious, and began having a seizure, according to the relative who received accounts from other detainees. Others detained in the unit were reportedly alarmed and pleaded with guards to call an ambulance. After much begging by other detainees, Guerra was taken to a hospital. He was transferred back into Delaney Hall that same week and placed in a medical isolation cell. “It’s been almost three weeks and he’s getting worse,” Guerra’s relative told the Guardian, requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation by ICE. “His head hurts. When he looks at the light, it bothers him, he gets fatigued. When he looks at a television screen, he feels dizzy. When he stands up and wants to walk, he gets dizzy.” “He needs medical attention. He’s not in an adequate place to recover,” the relative said, adding that Guerra is beginning to lose his hearing in his left ear. Guerra is one of two men held inside medical isolation cells inside Delaney, according to New Jersey congressional representative LaMonica McIver. A third man detained in that unit, who uses a wheelchair, was released on Thursday afternoon. The Delaney Hall facility, run by the private prison company GEO Group, opened last year and has faced repeated accusations of substandard medical care, inedible food and neglectful guards. Multiple oversight visits by members of congress have found conditions at the facility to match claims by detainees, according to the lawmakers ’ accounts . View image in fullscreen Delaney Hall, where detainees are engaged in a hunger and labor strike. Photograph: Juliu