The state of New Jersey has filed a lawsuit against the operator of a privately run ICE detention center in Newark after the company refused to give state health inspectors full access to the facility last week, state officials said.

The state is seeking a court order to conduct a complete health inspection of Delaney Hall, a detention center with a roughly 1,200-bed capacity operated by the Florida-based private company GEO Group.

“If the GEO Group — with a $1 billion government contract — has nothing to hide and the conditions inside Delaney Hall are as safe and as sanitary as this private corporation and the Trump administration claim, then there is no legitimate reason why my health inspectors are being kept from full access throughout the building,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement.

The City of Newark also is expanding its legal fight over the ICE detention center in response to public complaints from detainees over conditions inside. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said Tuesday that the city intends to broaden its active federal lawsuit against the GEO Group to include health and safety concerns for the immigrants housed there.

City officials said they notified the GEO Group of their intent yesterday. The city awaiting a response from the company before making a new filing in the case.

The GEO Group did not respond to a request for comment on either lawsuit by Tuesday afternoon.

A DHS spokesperson in an email to Gothamist called New Jersey’s lawsuit “frivolous,” and said state and local inspectors are granted access to Delaney Hall “where appropriate.” The Department of Homeland Security is not named in either case.

State inspection restricted

New Jersey’s lawsuit comes after GEO Group officials denied state health inspectors entry to Delaney Hall last Wednesday “because GEO already had too many visits scheduled with congressional delegations for the day,” according to court filings.

State inspectors were allowed in the next day, but were only given access to food-service areas despite requesting to also inspect the medical unit, HVAC systems, sleeping areas, and bathrooms, according to the filings. Follow up requests to complete a full inspection in the days after were denied, the filings state.

“Any facility housing people in New Jersey must meet basic standards under the law to prevent the spread of disease, keep food and water safe, and minimize health risks. That includes Delaney Hall,” Raynard Washington, the state health commissioner, said in a statement. “Health inspections are not political — they are essential public health tools that help ensure no one in New Jersey is housed in dangerous or unsanitary conditions.”

Newark’s code enforcement fight

State health officials' difficulty getting into Delaney Hall reflects the experience of Newark officials, who have complained for over a year that they have not been able to conduct required code inspections.

Newark sued the GEO Group in state court in April 2025 — a month before Delaney Hall reopened – seeking a court order directing the company to comply with all local and state fire, health and safety regulations.

GEO Group responded by having the case removed to federal court, arguing its $1 billion, 15-year federal contract it has to operate Delaney Hall shields it from local and state rules. That litigation remains ongoing, with a mediation hearing scheduled for later this month.

“This is just not a bureaucratic dispute over garbage and debris, a code enforcement dispute,” Baraka said. “This is a dispute about human lives, about people and the way they're being treated.”

City officials say recent events have brought new urgency to their case. That includes the recent publication of open letters signed by hundreds of detainees decrying inadequate healthcare, low quality food and unsanitary conditions inside Delaney Hall.

Eric Pennington, Newark’s business administrator, said the new claims from detainees mean the city is obligated to conduct health and code inspections of the detention center.

Pennington said the city on Monday again requested access to inspect the facility and as of Tuesday morning the city was waiting for a response from the GEO Group. Pennington said if the request is denied, as it has regularly been, the city will file its new complaint.

“We’re awaiting the GEO Group's response now, and we expect to go to the court within the next day or two to continue the existing lawsuit,” Pennington said.

Baraka never wanted a detention center in his city. He was arrested last year protesting Delaney Hall’s reopening; those charges were later dropped. He said he hopes the city’s lawsuit will eventually lead to Delaney Hall’s closure.

Curfew to be lifted

The Newark Police Department on Monday night took command of public safety operations outside the ICE facility. Protests were largely peaceful overnight, with no immediate reports of clashes or arrests.

That's in stark contrast to a wild Sunday night Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda. said 61 people were arrested on various charges, including curfew violation, resisting arrest and failure to disperse.

Tensions at the immigration detention center boiled over last week as demonstrations intensified, leading to a number of clashes between protesters and federal immigration officials.

In response, the New Jersey State Police took over crowd control at the scene on Friday. The city of Newark implemented a curfew starting Sunday night from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., covering a half-mile radius around Delaney Hall. The city also barred pedestrians from using the road in front of the center, Doremus Avenue, and limited vehicle traffic to official business only.

State police equipped with riot gear used force to clear protesters on multiple nights, drawing heavily criticism from immigrant and civil rights advocates for being too heavy handed. Baraka said he sympathized with Sherrill for having to take action in a tense situation, but said the state police should have been deployed in a different manner.

“Look, the state police is a sword. If you're going to use them, you have to expect people to get cut,” Baraka said. “I just think that we, going forward, have to have larger discussions about tactics on the ground. The local authorities, our public safety director, has to be involved in every decision going forward in our city.”

Still, Baraka said he regretted having city police take a hands-off approach as state police stepped in.

“We probably should have done that earlier, jumped in and had a louder voice in what was happening in and around this as it began to grow more and more untenable as the days went on,” Baraka said.

The mayor said he plans to lift the curfew and reopen Doremus Avenue in coming days, possibly as soon as Tuesday night, now that city police have been able to restore a calmer atmosphere. Demonstrations will be allowed in front of Delaney Hall again, Baraka said, though new traffic barriers are in place to keep people away from the heavy trucks constantly passing in front of the facility.

“I think it was escalated the minute ICE showed up on the scene. They created this kind of escalation that took place that we have not recovered from until last night,” Baraka said. “We can't have the attention turned to the escalation that's going on outside and away from what's happening in the property. Because our real reason for being out here is to make sure Delaney Hall is closed.”

This story has been updated with new information.