NJ sues GEO Group after inspectors blocked at ICE jail

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport filed a lawsuit on June 2, 2026, against The GEO Group, Inc., in Essex County Superior Court, seeking a court order compelling the company to grant state health inspectors immediate and complete access to Delaney Hall — the 1,000-bed ICE immigration detention center in Newark.

The complaint alleged GEO violated New Jersey's public health statutes, which grant the state Department of Health the right to access any premises if there is reason to believe a health code violation is occurring. GEO refused access to the medical unit, sleeping areas, shower and toilet facilities, and HVAC systems during a May 27-28 inspection attempt.

About 300 detainees launched a hunger and work strike on May 22, 2026, after advocates and family members gathered outside Delaney Hall for a rally. The detainees cited medical neglect, spoiled food, and unsanitary housing — including reports of rotten meals containing live worms — along with complaints about denied bond hearings and pressure to sign deportation documents.

Human Rights Watch documented the allegations in a June 3 report, describing accounts from detainees of inadequate medical care and poor sanitation that aligned with conditions inspectors were trying to assess. The Marshall Project reported that detainees described conditions so poor that some signed voluntary departure agreements simply to escape the facility.

GEO Group signed a 15-year, $1 billion contract with ICE in February 2025 to operate Delaney Hall. The company estimated the contract would generate more than $60 million in annualized revenue in its first full year. GEO Group reported $2.63 billion in total revenue in 2025 — a record — and projected roughly $3 billion for 2026.

GEO's stock rose 73% after Trump's reelection in November 2024. The company secured approximately $520 million in new or expanded contracts in 2025 alone, the largest single-year haul in its history.

GEO Group argued it could not permit state inspectors entry without explicit ICE authorization. ICE denied New Jersey's access request after several days of back-and-forth. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin publicly declared there was no hunger strike at Delaney Hall and called New Jersey officials' actions a political stunt.

DHS also claimed all detainees received three daily meals evaluated by certified dietitians, as well as 24-hour medical access. The agency called the New Jersey lawsuit frivolous in a statement to CNN. Members of Congress who toured the facility — including Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Dan Goldman — disputed DHS's account, describing conditions they called inhumane.

Governor Mikie Sherrill deployed the New Jersey State Police Public Safety Response Team to the area around Delaney Hall beginning the weekend of May 30-31. State troopers in riot gear used tear gas on protesters and made dozens of arrests. Videos of the crackdown circulated on social media and drew criticism from civil liberties advocates and elected officials.

Sherrill later said the state's attorney general would examine civil rights complaints against the state police response. She also ordered state police to establish a protected protest zone — a response to critics who said the initial deployment had suppressed lawful protest rather than containing violence.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka ordered a nightly curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. covering a half-mile radius around Delaney Hall, restricting vehicle access to those with verified official business. Baraka simultaneously called for the facility's closure. The City of Newark also filed its own legal action — distinct from the state's lawsuit — asking a court to close Delaney Hall until a full city inspection could be completed.

Baraka was arrested at Delaney Hall during earlier protests in 2025 on trespassing charges, which were later dropped. U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver faced separate assault charges stemming from the same incident.

The federal conflict-of-interest network around GEO Group's contracts ran through the top of the Trump administration. Attorney General Pam Bondi earned $390,000 lobbying for GEO Group before her confirmation, and Senate Democrats demanded she recuse herself from any DOJ work benefitting the company. Tom Homan, the administration's border czar, had a consulting arrangement with GEO Group that only became public in 2025.

GEO Group and CoreCivic combined donated $2.79 million to Trump's campaign, inaugural committee, and related fundraising entities. Since January 2025, GEO Group received more than $1 billion in federal detention contracts and CoreCivic more than $653 million.

The New Jersey lawsuit set up a direct confrontation between state public health authority and a federally contracted private prison company. Courts have previously wrestled with how much power states have to regulate facilities operating under federal ICE contracts. The Ninth Circuit upheld a California law permitting state inspections of private ICE facilities, rejecting GEO Group's argument that the law violated intergovernmental immunityIntergovernmental ImmunityThe constitutional principle that the federal government cannot be regulated or taxed by state governments.Key ConceptIntergovernmental ImmunityThe constitutional principle that the federal government cannot be regulated or taxed by state governments.Open conceptBookmark. A separate California ban on for-profit detention was struck down for violating the Supremacy Clause.

New Jersey's suit rested on state health code authority — a different legal hook than California's inspector-access statute — making the constitutional question whether state public health power can penetrate a federally contracted private facility when the federal government has declined to conduct its own oversight.

ICE's own oversight of detention facilities has faced sustained criticism from federal watchdogs. A 2021 GAO report found that ICE's detention inspection program had documentation gaps and did not consistently enforce its own standards at private facilities. The DHS Inspector General has repeatedly flagged failures at privately operated ICE jails. The private prison model creates a structural tension: GEO Group's profit depends on keeping costs low and beds filled, while meaningful federal inspection could surface conditions that trigger contract remedies or termination.

The Delaney Hall standoff was the most visible example of a broader legal and political conflict in 2025-2026 over whether states could impose any oversight on federal immigration detention. California sent investigators into ICE detention centers in May 2026, with detainees weeping in interviews about conditions. As the Trump administration moved to purchase private detention centers outright — a strategy that would place facilities under direct federal ownership and further insulate them from state oversight — the Delaney Hall lawsuit became a test case for how much accountability states could impose on the private prison industry when federal officials refused to act.