A woman from the Dominican Republic who was pregnant and experiencing severe stomach discomfort was unable to receive prenatal care for an entire month. A Guatemalan man diagnosed with leukemia deteriorated after missing crucial treatments for two months. A Haitian woman suffering from a throat tumor began to struggle with breathing and ultimately lost her ability to speak due to the excruciating pain.
These serious medical situations are highlighted in 60 emergency lawsuits filed by immigrants held at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Delaney Hall detention center, where they claim they were denied essential medical care.
Many detainees were arrested while recovering from serious medical issues — such as stroke, thyroid cancer, and colon surgery — yet reported that the facility could not adequately address their conditions. Others with chronic illnesses like diabetes and epilepsy noted they lacked consistent access to life-saving medications. Even those who entered Delaney Hall in good health found it challenging to obtain care after falling ill, as is evident from court documents and medical records reviewed by The City Reporter.
These accounts, collected from emergency lawsuits filed between mid-October 2025 and May 2026, provide an unprecedented insight into detainee struggles for medical care within a facility that has become a focal point for the Trump administration’s strict immigration enforcement policies. Many narratives in these suits are supported by medical evidence and personal interviews. Operated by GEO Group under a staggering 15-year, $1 billion contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, stands as the largest detention center in the New York area.
Detainees at this facility, which houses around 1,000 individuals, have been organizing since February to advocate for better conditions. Recently, almost 300 individuals signed a letter detailing inadequate access to medical care and inedible food. Following this, they initiated a hunger and work strike, demanding the immediate release of medically vulnerable individuals. As the protest progressed, outside demonstrators clashed with heavily armed federal agents, as well as local and state police.
“The medical care is inadequate,” stated Eric Mark, a lawyer representing clients detained at the facility. Rather than supporting calls for closure, he hopes to see the conditions improve. “Symptoms are often overlooked. Requests for medical attention frequently go unanswered. When care is provided, it tends to be cursory and insufficient.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has constantly denied any shortcomings in medical care within Delaney Hall.
“Providing comprehensive medical care from the moment someone enters ICE custody is a well-established practice. This includes conducting medical, dental, and mental health intake screenings within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, followed by a full health assessment within 14 days,” states an ICE spokesperson, reinforcing the agency’s detention standards. “For many detainees, this represents the best healthcare they have ever received.”
However, GEO Group did not respond to repeated requests for comments.
ICE detainees maintain a right to adequate medical care as outlined by constitutional due process protections. Nevertheless, many lawyers allege that these standards are not being met. A review of medical and court records conducted by The City Reporter indicates that detainees face delays in receiving professional medical attention and encounter difficulties accessing necessary medications, alongside critical specialists. Minor ailments can escalate into severe conditions while in detention, raising deep concerns among their families about their wellbeing.
Antonio, a Venezuelan national, had recently undergone gastric bypass surgery when he was detained by ICE in Newark while delivering food. Maintaining a specific diet was essential for his recovery, yet the food at Delaney Hall led to weeks of intense stomach pain, accompanied by blood in his urine and stool. He shared his ordeal with The City Reporter in Spanish, requesting that his full name be withheld for fear of retaliation in his immigration case.
As his situation worsened, Antonio stated that staff urged him to sign voluntary departure paperwork. “They started to say I should sign for my health,” he recalled, expressing despair during a phone call with his wife: “These people want me to die in here.”
‘Liberty Can Be Restored Later. Brain Cells Cannot.’
When Marcelo was detained by ICE while driving, he was already recovering from two heart attacks as a 46-year-old Newark resident. By adhering to daily medications and a strict diet, this Ecuadorian construction worker managed his diabetes and hypertension.
Not long after his arrest, Marcelo’s wife, Bertha, contacted the facility to inform them of his medical condition. “He needs to monitor his oxygen levels closely. If he runs out, he collapses entirely,” she explained to the staff. “We don’t want him to become just another statistic — yet another death.”
Days later, Marcelo’s health declined, and he suffered severe chest pain radiating up his left arm. The discomfort persisted until he vomited the next morning, prompting the facility to call for an ambulance, according to medical records.
Upon examination, doctors assessed Marcelo for a possible heart condition or pneumonia, revealing he was not receiving sufficient oxygen. After two days, he stabilized and was returned to Delaney Hall.
However, six weeks later, Marcelo experienced chest pain once more and reported to the infirmary, where he fainted. The facility delayed calling for an ambulance for 11 hours even after he displayed symptoms, per hospital records. Upon arrival, the blood pressure and diabetes medications he had been previously using were not listed. Instead, he was given ibuprofen, aspirin, and gabapentin, a medication used for nerve pain or sleep induction.
Marc Stern, a physician and professor at the University of Washington who reviewed Marcelo’s medical records at The City Reporter’s request, indicated that he should have been sent to the emergency room immediately based on his medical history. He stressed that it was improbable Marcelo no longer required his original medications. “It’s far more likely that the discontinuation of those medications was unfounded,” he stated.
As ICE arrests surged last spring, the agency began detaining an increasing number of medically vulnerable individuals, including pregnant women and those suffering from serious conditions like Marcelo. The Department of Homeland Security possesses broad authority to release those with medical needs from detention; however, the 60 cases examined by The City Reporter revealed that detainees often had to resort to filing federal lawsuits to secure their release.
Among the medically vulnerable individuals detained at Delaney Hall in recent months are a man recovering from a stroke, another with only one functioning lung who developed flu-like symptoms, and a man requiring 23 prescription pills daily following a kidney transplant and open heart surgery. All reported lacking the necessary medications, according to court documents.
“If they are handling complex medical cases, they need to manage them appropriately,” remarked Susan Lawrence, a physician and former medical director of an ICE facility in Atlanta, Georgia. “If they cannot manage these cases due to insufficient staffing or medication problems, they must transfer these individuals to a facility capable of providing adequate care.”
In certain individual cases that were inquired about by The City Reporter, ICE claimed it provided necessary care. In the case of the pregnant woman from the Dominican Republic, an ICE spokesperson noted that she received treatment for “abdominal pain, first trimester pregnancy, hypertension, constipation, and cardiac arrhythmia.” For the Haitian woman with the throat tumor, ICE stated she “received treatment for a non-cystic mass on her throat and neck, acute throat pain, neck pain, and difficulty swallowing during her time in ICE custody.”
Nonetheless, as her condition worsened, the staff at Delaney Hall denied the Haitian detainee additional pillows, according to her lawsuit. Consequently, she used extra sheets from detainees who had been deported or transferred. A judge ultimately ordered her release, categorizing her situation as “an extreme case of special urgency,” as her condition continued to deteriorate until she became unable to speak.
Another detainee from Colombia, who suffers from epilepsy, went without access to daily medications for over a week following his arrest in February, according to his lawsuit. “Civil detention shouldn’t be a death sentence by negligence,” asserted his attorney Alexandra Minogue within the suit. Each passing day, she remarked, brought an increased risk that her client would experience a potentially deadly seizure.
“Liberty can be restored later,” she emphasized. “Brain cells cannot.” A DHS spokesperson claimed he “received treatment for his history of seizure disorder.”
Federal Judge Jamel Semper agreed with Minogue, ordering the immediate release of the man, concluding that the denial of his medication likely violated his right to due process under the Constitution.
ICE acknowledged the arrest of the Guatemalan man suffering from leukemia but did not contest his lack of access to treatments during his two months at Delaney Hall.
‘Pain Like I’ve Never Had in My Life’
Haruna was healthy when detained at Delaney Hall following his arrest last July. However, after five months, the 39-year-old asylum seeker from Ghana began noticing blood in his stool and experienced dizziness and weakness.
Accessing medical care at Delaney Hall involved submitting a request form and waiting for a nurse to attend to the unit. Often, his requests went unanswered, Haruna noted. After persistent requests and repeated calls from his wife, he was finally able to see a doctor, per court records and his interview. By that time, his condition was so critical that he was sent to a local emergency room, where he remained chained while receiving a blood transfusion.
After several days, he was returned to Delaney Hall, yet his symptoms persisted. He missed a surgical appointment, according to court records. In March, his condition worsened significantly, requiring three trips to the emergency room for blood transfusions and surgery. Medical records indicated he was “at high risk for morbidity and mortality.”
In a recent phone call from Delaney Hall, Haruna expressed his ongoing struggles, stating, “I’m sick. I repeatedly inform them, but they don’t take my condition seriously.” After nearly a year in detention, he added, “It has become hell for me.”
Anjali Niyogi, an internal medicine doctor at Tulane University who reviewed Haruna’s medical records, expressed concerns in a letter to the court regarding his gastrointestinal bleeding: “His condition has not been properly managed during detention.”
“Remaining in detention places him at a severe risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and significant clinical decline,” Niyogi asserted.
Haruna was not alone in describing gastrointestinal issues ignored by medical staff; another detainee, B., a Guinea-born individual detained in April, reported experiencing blood in his stool for 39 days — the entirety of his detention. Relief came only after a judge ordered his release, enabling him to seek medical care independently.
“The pain was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my life,” he recounted to The City Reporter.
Gastrointestinal bleeding can signify various medical conditions, from hemorrhoids to cancer, necessitating prompt evaluation by medical professionals, according to Homer Venters, a physician and former chief medical officer at New York’s Rikers Island facility.
“Symptoms like coughing up blood, vomiting blood, or having blood in your stool are potentially serious signs,” he stated. “Patients displaying these symptoms require immediate assessment.”
Lawyers representing individuals detained at Delaney Hall indicated that it is common for clients to receive medications like Tylenol, even for severe problems.
“Clients with complicated medical histories often receive over-the-counter pain medication, which fails to address their issues adequately,” remarked Alex Mintz, an attorney representing several detainees at Delaney Hall.
This approach does not align with the required care standards, said Lawrence, the former medical director of the Georgia ICE detention center.
“It is the responsibility of the facility holding them to provide constitutionally adequate medical care. If a detainee needs insulin, HIV medications, or other specialized care, it is their obligation to supply that,” she clarified.
Waiting for ICE to Approve
For those seeking specialized medical attention, the wait can extend for months, according to court records. Some have yet to see a specialist.
E., a gay asylum seeker from Ghana, nearly lost most of his vision in one eye due to an assault from local authorities stemming from his sexuality, according to medical records and court documents.
By the time he was arrested while attending an asylum interview in October, his other eye was also deteriorating, causing him significant pain. Confined in Delaney Hall, E. feared he would go completely blind. Each visit to the infirmary yielded the same response from medical staff: “They are waiting for ICE to approve,” he told The City Reporter.
Through a detainee friend, he learned of the Mami Chelo Foundation, a group dedicated to assisting detainees with severe medical issues at Delaney Hall. In February, he urgently reached out to the director, Sally Pillay, crying for help.
“I fear going totally blind,” he wrote. “I’m begging you in the name of God.”
The foundation connected him with a pro bono lawyer, who facilitated his release after five months of detention, as ordered by a federal judge. E. has since undergone cataract surgery, significantly improving his vision.
Nevertheless, other medically vulnerable individuals remain confined in Delaney Hall. Haruna, who has been incarcerated there for almost a year, continues to pursue a pending lawsuit for release, just like Marcelo, who is nearing his sixth month in detention.
After filing a habeas petition for his release, a judge ruled against Marcelo, though he allowed his lawyer to submit a letter for reconsideration.
The lawyer, Marlon Bayas, addressed the judge in early April, but no response has been received thus far. “There’s a clear disregard for those with medical conditions,” Bayas informed The City Reporter. “I can’t fathom why the judge is stalling on this case.”
Each time Bertha, Marcelo’s wife and a legal permanent resident of the U.S., visits, she feels helpless as she watches her husband deteriorate.
“He’s not the same person he was before. His expression, his demeanor — it’s all disappeared,” she shared with The City Reporter, as her husband, who has never faced criminal accusations in this country, approaches six months in detention.
The couple has three children, ages 17, 12, and an infant, who have been affected by their father’s sudden decline.
“Mom, look at him. Look at how Dad has changed,” one of their children remarked during a recent visit.
“Shh,” she cautioned them. “Don’t say such things in front of him. Just hug him and tell him you love him.”
