WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressmembers Rob Menendez (NJ-08), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and LaMonica McIver (NJ-10) released a video marking one year since they toured the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. As they conducted oversight to hold the Trump administration accountable for human rights abuses committed during its immigration enforcement operations, militarized agents charged into a crowd of peaceful protesters, delayed elected officials acting within their constitutional duty, and arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka who was standing outside the facility. In the aftermath, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Alina Habba pressed charges against McIver— one of many examples of Trump’s weaponization of the Justice Department against his critics. In December 2025, Habba was disqualified from her role as US Attorney for New Jersey for serving unlawfully.
In the video, the members call for greater oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities across the nation and lambast the Trump administration for its intimidation tactics. Following their oversight visit at Delaney Hall in May 2025, the members reported on the substandard conditions they witnessed. Just one month later, four detainees escaped the facility by breaking through an aluminum exterior wall. The detention center was already riddled with food shortages and low-quality water.
“The Trump administration is trying to criminalize oversight because they know their actions are despicable in the eyes of the American public,” they said.
“They want us to be afraid. They want us to think no one can stop them. They are wrong.”
Watch the video here.
