Christians in the US state of New Jersey, including nuns and church members, have been running a “radical hospitality” point outside an ICE detention centre, where people have reported maggots in their food and forced labour.
Delaney Hall is a privately-run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre in Newark, approximately half an hour’s drive from Ellis Island. Opened in May 2025, it has become the epicentre of protests after thousands of men and women held inside shared three open letters describing “inhumane conditions”.
The letters, signed with “God bless you all” and “S.O.S” – the international distress signal – tell of people being held at the facility despite having young children in the country. Detainees reported ICE officers pressurising them into signing deportation documents and withholding their mobile phones.
Visiting families have also faced shifting goalposts, with the centre reportedly frequently changing its rules on “inappropriate clothing”. Toddlers have been barred from seeing their parents over wearing crocs, and wives have been turned away for wearing tank tops.
In response, the Sisters of Joseph of Peace have opened a clothing bank outside the facility, offering shirts, trousers, shoes, and a changing room to any relatives turned away.
Faith in New Jersey and members of Pax Christi have been involved in peaceful protests, praying outside the centre.
Sr. Susan Rose Francois wrote in the National Catholic Reporter: “We believe that our friends in detention and their families come first… They know that they are created in the image and likeness of God and their actions call us to remember that as well.”
In May 2025, New Jersey politician and member of the House of Reprensentaives LaMonica McIver visited the site alongside two other politicians.
McIver said: “Everything the detainees wrote in their S.O.S. letter is 100% correct. DHS is lying to keep their abuses from being exposed.” She has since been charged with "impeding and interferring with" federal officers, charges which she vehemently denies and is appealing.
Faith in New Jersey has said that their call is to "radical love in action".
"[Love] extends beyond the walls of houses of worship and into the world," said executive director Charlene Walker, "radical love in action breaks the shackles of systemic injustice that oppress God’s precious children."