You can see them but you can't talk to them
Democrats say they were denied access to Delaney Hall detainees
The immigration facility in New Jersey has been the scene of chaotic protests over conditions in recent weeks.
06/17/2026 07:46 PM EDT
NEWARK, New Jersey — A half dozen House Democrats said they were denied access to detainees while conducting an oversight visit to Delaney Hall on Wednesday.
The visit to the controversial, privately run, 1,000-bed New Jersey immigration detention facility coincided with a shadow hearing led by Department of Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).
Thompson and fellow Democrats, including New Jersey Reps. LaMonica McIver and Rob Menendez, were allowed to enter the facility, which Thompson later said was “spic and span because they knew we were coming.” But the members said they were unable to talk with the hundreds of detainees inside unless they had given prior approval.
Members of Congress have the legal right to conduct oversight visits to immigration detention facilities. But the denial suggests a new and different interpretation of the law that could set up another showdown between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats.
“That’s not what the policy is intended to be,” Thompson told reporters.
Menendez, who said he’s conducted similar oversight visits 16 times, said this was a “unique” situation because lawmakers were denied access to detainees and blamed the Trump administration.
“They know when the focus is on those individuals, on their stories, it pierces through the narrative that this administration has been lying to the American people about, trying to sell the American people about ‘the worst of the worst,’ because that’s not who’s inside,” he told reporters after leaving the facility.
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