Detainees jailed inside Newark immigration detention center Delaney Hall say in a letter they sent to activists that they’re self-deporting because judges are denying their cases even though they have a legal reason to be in the United States.
“We feel vulnerable, in a way, kidnapped or detained without justification. We see with profound helplessness and frustration that the right to due process and legal counsel was violated,” they said.
The letter was written by Leonardo Villalba, an Ecuadorian detainee who has since been transferred out of Delaney Hall, and 24 others who were arrested by federal immigration authorities. Activists translated the five-page letter, titled “Our Cry,” from Spanish to English and published it on Thursday.
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This is the first time a group of detainees released a joint statement from inside the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall, which is the largest immigration jail on the East Coast. The jail has been at the center of numerous controversies, including when a group of detainees escaped last year (they were caught and rearrested).
Alexandra Goncalves Peña, the legal director of immigrant advocacy group American Friends Service Committee, said the detainees’ words in the letter “underscore an inhumane system that denies people meaningful access to counsel, liberty, and rushes deportations without due process.”
Detainees start the letter by apologizing for the way they came to the United States, saying they were escaping dangerous conditions in their home countries and turned themselves in to authorities when they crossed the border. The signatories say they attended mandatory check-ins with immigration authorities, obtained work permits, and filed taxes.
“We did not pose a threat to the country or the communities where we resided,” the letter says. “We know that ICE agents have orders to arrest immigrants. In our cases, we had already been processed and were complying with legal requirements.”
Because of the Trump administration’s push to deport millions of undocumented immigrations, the detainees say, they’re left to fend for themselves in court hearings without proper representation.
Some of the signatories said they were arrested at scheduled immigration appointments, court hearings, and immigration offices, and that immigration officers did not take their pending immigration cases into consideration.
They added that as prosecutors sought to deport people to countries with violent conditions or political turmoil, migrants have turned to voluntarily deporting themselves to their countries of origin.
“Families are being destroyed and separated, especially where there are minor children and nephews who are suffering a very strong psychological impact because they do not understand the situation,” they said in the letter.
Detainees also said Delaney Hall is an “overcrowded” detention center shared with people with mental health and physical disabilities, as well as juveniles and elderly people.
“Our American dream is safety and protection with our families,” they wrote. “Although this is a difficult situation, we trust in God and believe in American justice.”
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