“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
It has been a rough week. It feels like we are living in authoritarian times. Immigration is probably the most divisive issue in our country. Reports have surfaced that there has been a plethora of abuse done unto folks being detained at the Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, NJ. Delaney Hall is a facility used for immigrant detention in Newark, New Jersey. The private prison is managed by the GEO Group under contract for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which awarded GEO Group a $1 billion contract for fifteen years. With the lack of adequate food, contaminated water, and lack of medical care, 300 brave souls went on a hunger and labor strike pleading for help. Families became deeply concerned about the inhumane conditions inside the detention center. Today more than ever, they demand answers, transparency, and that Governor Mikie Sherrill show up and face this crisis.
Immigrants detained at Delaney and their families have been organizing since the facility opened on May 1, 2025. Faith leaders were appalled by its reopening and have been advocating for its closure since. We believe wholeheartedly when the scriptures tell us to “not oppress a foreigner. You know the heart of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 23:9. Even Newark’s Mayor, Ras Baraka, was arrested by agents to get city inspectors inside to inspect the facility as it was a condemned property. (https://newjerseymonitor.com/2025/06/03/newark-mayor-sues-feds-over-arrest-outside-ice facility/).
Families have been begging elected officials for months for help. Clergy and advocates heeded the pleas of concerned family members and held vigils outside of the detention center in solidarity with those who have been abducted. We find it troubling that the Governor appears more comfortable receiving praise from the Trump administration than listening to the families standing outside these gates every day.
The people sounding the alarm are not political actors. They are wives, children, parents, faith leaders, and grassroots organizations hearing directly from people trapped and striking inside. We pressured state officials and congresspersons to investigate. Community organizations have been documenting abuse for months. We do not need more statements crafted behind closed doors. We need elected officials willing to stand with the people directly impacted and take action to stop the suffering.
ICE decided to take a stand and taze, mace, and assault protestors in hopes we wouldn’t return. Nevertheless, the community came back day after day to lift our voice. ICE agents outside of Delaney Hall have brutally escalated their tactics by using pepper spray, smoke bombs, pushing people into incoming traffic, and more. The people detained inside the detention center have reported being beaten and pepper sprayed in which we witnessed many ambulances come in and out of the facility courting off battered and bruised bodies.
We had hopes that Governor Sherrill would intervene. In a press conference she stated that: “state police were being sent to protect the protestors”. What experienced and witnessed on the street was the continued coordination of the state of NJ with federal agents. We saw NJ state police collaborate with ICE and we saw masked ICE agents in our streets, both of which violate New Jersey law. Yet instead of holding ICE and NJ state police accountable, peaceful protesters are being beaten and the demands of hunger strikers continue to be ignored.
What have WE become? We often hear people say that they have no problem with immigration if people would just come legally. Pastors are often criticized for talking about welcoming the stranger in their sermons. They are told that they shouldn’t be talking about political issues at service. We debate and argue, accuse and demonize each other. Through it all, we lose sight of the human face of immigration.
It’s easy for us to sit back in our space of comfort and say these people are breaking the law. It’s easy to demonize and unjustly classify them as gang members, rapists, and murderers. It comes naturally when we view people different from us as other, not sister and brother. We can believe immigration is a political issue for politicians to solve. We can hide behind the law without ever seeing the face of God in the refugee or seeing the suffering Jesus in the eyes of a woman whose children are torn from her.
We have the audacity to claim to be a “Christian nation.” As such, citing “Christian values” as a reason for anti-migrant beliefs or policies is deeply contrary to Christian teachings. This is specifically the case when you see that Christ himself, by definition, would have been a refugee when he fled to Egypt as a child to avoid the persecution of King Herod.
Perhaps then, the ‘Christian values’ people cite when expressing anti-migrant sentiments are not really values from original Christian texts but watered down interpretations of them made to suit the climate and geopolitics of the United States. Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Nazareth are all in the Middle East. Indeed, the only caucasians that appear in the story of Jesus are the ones that nailed him to a cross.
By re-inventing Christ this way, we have basically eradicated his foreignness and allowed people to preach ‘love thy neighbor’ in one breath and the hatred of migrants and refugees in the next – and not see the contradiction. Perhaps then we have created a pliable Jesus that can be used to add the weight of two thousand years of tradition behind any cause, regardless of whether it contradicts his teachings. To this though, there is a quote in the Gospel of Matthew that could be quite applicable.: ‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’. (Matthew 7:21-23)
The scriptures tell us that “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the immigrant, the fatherless or the widow.”– Deuteronomy 27:19. We are made to love. We are adopted into a royal family that has the responsibility of exuding love with anyone we encounter. Regardless of anything at all. This is our mission and it will be accomplished. The theme of offering support and protection remains constant in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Central to Christ’s teachings is helping and supporting the oppressed and downtrodden. In the letter to the Romans, it is outright stated that extending hospitality to strangers is a ‘mark of a good Christian’ (Romans 12:9-13).
Detained immigrants at Delaney Hall are now on Day 11 of a hunger strike demanding freedom, dignity, and an end to their detention. Their calls have been met with silence. Governor Sherrill has yet to meet with the hunger strikers. As their strike enters its eleventh day, this must change. “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Governor now has a choice: She can stand with the regime carrying out these abuses, or she can stand with the families and communities demanding justice. We are urging her to choose the people.
These are the Demands of the families:
- Immediate access to Delaney Hall for independent monitors, elected officials, attorneys, and community representatives.
- The immediate release of vulnerable detained individuals, including elderly individuals, pregnant women, young people, and those with serious medical conditions.
- Independent investigations into reports of violence, retaliation, and human rights violations inside Delaney Hall.
- Full funding for immigrant legal defense.
- Transparency regarding ICE enforcement operations throughout New Jersey.
- An end to detention expansion in New Jersey, including proposed ICE facilities in Roxbury
