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[House Hearing, 119 Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] FALSE NARRATIVES SURROUNDING CONDITIONS AT THE DELANEY HALL ICE DETENTION CENTER ======================================================================= HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION __________ WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2026 __________ Serial No. 119-77 __________ Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] Available via: http://judiciary.house.gov __________ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 64-263 WASHINGTON : 2026 ======================================================================= COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Chair DARRELL ISSA, California JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland, Ranking ANDY BIGGS, Arizona Member TOM McCLINTOCK, California JERROLD NADLER, New York THOMAS P. TIFFANY, Wisconsin ZOE LOFGREN, California THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky STEVE COHEN, Tennessee CHIP ROY, Texas HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr., SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin Georgia BEN CLINE, Virginia TED LIEU, California LANCE GOODEN, Texas PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington JEFFERSON VAN DREW, New Jersey J. LUIS CORREA, California TROY E. NEHLS, Texas MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania BARRY MOORE, Alabama JOE NEGUSE, Colorado HARRIET M. HAGEMAN, Wyoming LUCY McBATH, Georgia LAUREL M. LEE, Florida DEBORAH K. ROSS, North Carolina WESLEY HUNT, Texas BECCA BALINT, Vermont RUSSELL FRY, South Carolina JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois KEVIN KILEY, California SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE, California GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin JARED MOSKOWITZ, Florida BRAD KNOTT, North Carolina DANIEL S. GOLDMAN, New York MARK HARRIS, North Carolina JASMINE CROCKETT, Texas ROBERT F. ONDER, Jr., Missouri SUMMER LEE, Pennsylvania DEREK SCHMIDT, Kansas BRANDON GILL, Texas MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER, Washington ------ SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT JEFFERSON VAN DREW, New Jersey, Chair BARRY MOORE, Alabama JASMINE CROCKETT, Texas, Ranking ROBERT F. ONDER, Jr., Missouri Member DEREK SCHMIDT, Kansas HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr., BRANDON GILL, Texas Georgia Vacancy CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Majority Staff Director ARTHUR EWENCZYK, Minority Staff Director C O N T E N T S ---------- Wednesday, July 22, 2026 OPENING STATEMENTS Page The Honorable Jefferson Van Drew, Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight from the State of New Jersey......................... 1 The Honorable Jasmine Crockett, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight from the State of Texas.............. 4 The Honorable Jim Jordan, Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Ohio......................................... 6 The Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on the Judiciary from the State of Maryland....................... 7 WITNESSES Scott Mechowski, Former New York Field Office Deputy Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Oral Testimony................................................. 11 Prepared Testimony............................................. 14 Art Del Cueto, Border Security Advisor, Federation for American Immigration Reform Oral Testimony................................................. 17 Prepared Testimony............................................. 19 Andrew R. Arthur, Resident Fellow in Law and Policy, Center for Immigration Studies Oral Testimony................................................. 25 Prepared Testimony............................................. 27 Amol Sinha, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Oral Testimony................................................. 77 Prepared Testimony............................................. 79 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC. SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING All materials submitted for the record by the Committee on the Judiciary are listed below..................................... 107 Materials submitted by the Honorable Jefferson Van Drew, Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight from the State of New Jersey, for the record An article entitled, ``Delaney Hall's Menu Options Better Than Many New Jersey School Lunch Choices,'' May 30, 2026, Shore News Network An article entitled, ``Fajitas, stir-fry, BBQ chicken--see the food options provided to Delaney Hall ICE detainees: `Higher standards than most US prisons,' '' May 29, 2026, New York Post An article entitled, ``Inspectors finally got into the kitchen at ICE's Delaney Hall. Here's what they found,'' Jun. 9, 2026, NJ.com An article entitled, ``Border czar Tom Homan ate same meal as Delaney Hall detainees, sources tell NBC News,'' Jun. 1, 2026, NBC News An article entitled, ``Delaney Hall snack purchases cast doubt on hunger strike reports, DHS says,'' Jun. 6, 2026, Fox News FALSE NARRATIVES SURROUNDING CONDITIONS AT THE DELANEY HALL ICE DETENTION CENTER ---------- Wednesday, July 22, 2026 House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight Committee on the Judiciary Washington, DC The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 p.m., in Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, the Hon. Jefferson Van Drew [Chair of the Subcommittee] presiding. Members present: Representatives Van Drew, Jordan, Crockett, Johnson, and Raskin. Mr. Van Drew. The Subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Welcome everyone today. Welcome to our hearing on Delaney Hall. We are now going to pledge allegiance to the flag, and we will continue to stand for a moment of silence for our fallen service members. Please rise. All. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Van Drew. Remain standing. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. I want to thank all the witnesses for being here. It is always a labor of love, and I know it takes time to get here, time to be here, and time to get back. We do appreciate all of you. We are here today because of a narrative that has been told over and over and over again for weeks. The narrative is that Delaney Hall, and by extension, all these detention centers are places of cruelty. It is just not true. That the people working there are starving, the detainees are hurting, they are being denied medical care and they are being abused. I want to be very direct about this story, it is false. It is not true. It is not accurate. The people telling it know it is false. They have seen the same things that I have seen. I can tell you because I have seen them with my own eyes. I walked the facility. I met with the staff. Not just the routine zipping out, we were there a long time. What I saw goes against all the narratives that you hear and that the Democrats have tried to say about this facility. Detainees there are served three meals a day and are evaluated by certified dieticians. I am just going to go through the list. They have access to medical, dental, and mental healthcare. If it is something more, they can deal with, they have cooperative agreements with local hospitals. They get 24-hour emergency care whenever and wherever it is needed. I am a dentist, so I got a chance to talk to the dentist, and I am sorry, the physician, the dentist I did not get a chance to speak with. Just as an aside, there is this sense that, oh, they are not getting good medical care. He went into, and he can't show me private files obviously, that is classified information between a physician and his patient. Told me about the people who had diabetes and never knew it. He told me about individuals who had never been to a doctor before in their life and finally were receiving medical care. People with high blood pressure, people with a variety of issues and illnesses that were receiving medications and prescriptions for them for the first time ever in their life. The Department of Homeland Security said plainly that ICE holds these facilities to higher standards than are most American prisons. That is what I saw. I have to tell you again, in my former life as a State Senator, I was Chair of the Prison Gang Task Force, went into every facility in the State of New Jersey, every one of them, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let me tell you, they wish that those facilities look like this facility does, because this facility was far nicer. I originally went hoping it was as good as that at least. It is far better. When Members of this very body toured the facility, one of our Democratic colleagues, she doesn't want to say it now, but when they were in there, looked and said in her words to quote, ``Gee, things aren't all that bad.'' That is all I will say. State health inspectors went into the kitchen and found the sanitation and physical conditions satisfactory, free of any sign of vermin. This is the State of New Jersey, State health inspectors, a very Blue State, a very Democratic State, sent their health inspectors in from the Governor's Office, and they said everything was good. That is not what they had to say about New Jersey prisons by the way. Despite all that, weeks of false claims being made by Democrats have drawn crowds to Delaney Hall. Crowds have thrown projectiles. They had set fires. They blocked law enforcement vehicles. They blocked an ambulance. Officers have been assaulted. More than 80 people had to be arrested. This is what false narratives produce, not only here, but in general. Chaos outside. Danger for men and women who are really doing their job. They are simply doing what has been asked of them. They are local folks from the city of Newark. It endangers the workers of the facility, most of whom, as I said, are Newark residents. When the Mayor of Newark and the Governor of New Jersey pulls away the police or sparks anger among protestors, they endanger their own citizens. Again, where there is cooperation in many ways among county, State, local, and Federal officials, we have very few problems anywhere in the country. It is where cooperation doesn't exist that we have problems. ICE is not supposed to be doing crowd control. They should have help. They could have help. It is wrong that they don't get the help that they need. Democrats on the other hand continue to choose the side of illegal immigrants over the American people. Only a few weeks ago they convened a field hearing to give voice to illegal criminal immigrants in detention at Newark. I would ask them, when was the last time they convened a hearing for all the American families across this great country who were victims? The mothers, the fathers, and the children who lost a loved one to a crime committed by somebody who was in this country illegally. When was the last time Democrats offered those families a hearing room? The people detained at Delaney Hall are not all random innocents. Let me say this, for those of us that have sat here through hearings, and you have seen children that will never be OK, and you have seen parents and families that will never be OK because their child was beaten, was raped, or was murdered, there are no words for that. We just got to make sure it doesn't happen and it is wrong. We are knowingly and purposely, not we, but others, let these individuals into our country and they shouldn't have. They should be detained. By the way, if it is so bad at Delaney Hall, just so you know everybody, everybody has the option to self-deport. They will be helped if they want to self-deport. If they want to leave, it is not good. They don't like the food. They don't like the housing and the recreation. I didn't even go into, by the way, the soccer fields. I didn't go into the gym, that is better than, and I try to hit the gym everyday, I have been in a few nice gyms for many, many years. This was up to any of them, any of them anywhere that I have seen. Why the false narratives? Why would anybody do this? I know it is false. I have seen it with my own eyes. The people who are saying the false narratives know the truth, but they keep pushing the big lie. All it does is create chaos. It fuels hostility toward law enforcement officers, creates crime, creates problems, separates the country, and it divides the Nation. None of it is good. It should stop. We just want to keep our community safe. We don't want more kids to die. We don't want more brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and families to be hurt. By the way, there is the hunger strike. Oh, the food is so bad, they are making us eat maggots. Look at the food. They have got Halal for those that are Islamic food. They have got kosher food. They have got, if you have diseases or illnesses or health issues, they have got restricted diets. Anybody on a restricted diet, low salt diet, et cetera, can get what they need there. There was a hunger strike. We are not eating. We are on a hunger strike. We are going to sacrifice. We are not going to eat. What did we find out? I don't know if you all know, no, they were eating. They were given money by outside forces. They were going to the commissary, and they were getting their potato chips, and Twinkies, and you name whatever else. Maybe it is New Jersey, so they were getting some good New Jersey pizza, I don't know. They were getting plenty of food. In fact, during that time of the supposed hunger strikes, the population went down 13 percent in Delaney Hall, but the food intake at the commissary tripled--tripled. They were eating good, and they were eating a lot. Nobody is a victim here. Nobody is sacrificing, a self- sacrificial person. I don't know if they were eating healthy food. They would have been better off eating the food they were supposed to, because it was pretty damn healthy. It was a balanced diet. By the way, everybody who has got a registered dietician telling them what they should eat every day, raise your hand. They do. They do, just so you know. I want to thank the witnesses for being here. I want to yield back. Now, I want to recognize my friend, the Ranking Member, Ms. Crockett, for an opening statement. Ms. Crockett. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much to the witnesses that are here as well as other colleagues that are sitting in the audience. We are back again for another edition of the Republican Party's Great Replacement Theory therapy session, where all the White men of the House Judiciary Committee lecture Americans on the importance of mass deportations so that they preserve their so-called American values, like shooting and killing American citizens who are peacefully protesting, or stuffing hundreds of thousands of people into cages without proper nutrition or medical care. Nevertheless, in the time since our last hearing on this topic, more than 40 people have died while in ICE custody, of which 30 percent have died at a facility run by the GEO Group, who happens to be the same private detention contractor that operates Delaney Hall. At multiple GEO facilities, individuals report dangerously substandard conditions including mold, various outbreaks, including chickenpox, and insufficient food and water. Facilities operated by the GEO have failed to comply with ICE's own national detention standards. In fact, on numerous occasions, the government found that GEO run facilities had ``incompetent leadership,'' and that ``problematic medical care was occurring as a result.'' GEO has also been admonished by the courts, yet the Chair has not called anyone from the company to testify before this Subcommittee, which is not surprising, because they are pouring millions of dollars into Republican campaigns across the country. Let us play a game of follow the money, shall we? The GEO Group has donated more than $1 million to Donald Trump's Super PAC, nearly $1 million to Speaker Mike Johnson's Super PAC, hundreds of thousands to John Thune's Super PAC. They spend millions to get Republicans elected around the country and in return, they get Federal contracts to operate detention facilities. Republicans in Congress ignore the fact that people are dying in their facilities because of inhumane conditions and potentially criminal negligence. Also, since our last hearing on this topic, ICE agents have killed seven people, including the brutal murders of multiple American citizens. This is all occurring while the DHS routinely violates Federal law. In 2024, Congress passed a law that allows Members of Congress to visit detention facilities without providing any prior notice. The DHS has repeatedly violated this law. They have stopped Members of Congress from entering detention facilities to conduct oversight visits. The GEO Group and the DHS have not only blocked Members of Congress from entering their buildings. They have also blocked the State of New Jersey and the city of Newark from conducting their own oversight. The Governor has called for the facility to be closed. The city of Newark has sued the GEO. The New Jersey Attorney General successfully sued the GEO so that health inspectors must be allowed into the facility. A record number of people are dying in ICE's custody, mainly at facilities operated by GEO, and ICE is shooting and killing a record amount of people. Yet, again, the Chair has failed to call any government official to testify before this Subcommittee. No one from ICE, no one from CBP, no one from the DOJ, and no one from the White House. Democratic Members of Congress like Congresswoman Lamonica McIver, have been conducting oversight themselves. In May 2025, Rep. McIver was participating in a lawful congressional oversight visit at Delaney Hall with the Mayor of Newark and other Members of Congress. During the visit, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who wants to become the AG, ordered the violent arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. According to body cam footage worn by the violent Federal officers, they arrested the mayor, ``per the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.'' The Federal agents also said that they would arrest anyone who would ``get in their way.'' The Federal agents then violently assaulted the Mayor, Rep. McIver, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Rep. Menendez. Todd Blanche is now prosecuting Rep. McIver instead of the DHS and GEO officials, who continue to break the law while a record amount of people are dying in their facilities or being shot and killed by the DHS agents on the streets in America. This is one of the many reasons why Todd Blanche should never become the Attorney General of the United States. Last week during his Senate confirmation hearing, the acting Attorney General said aloud what everyone here already knows, that he serves as the President's attorney, and not on behalf of the American people. Blanche blocked investigations into the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. He gave Trump and his sons a super pardon that gives them lifelong protection from any investigation, audit, lawsuit, or prosecution by any Federal agency for any violation of Federal law. He created the $2 billion fund to pay January 6th insurrectionists for attacking the Capitol. He is protecting the pedophiles and sex traffickers in the Epstein files. He is threatening reporters with prosecution. He has lied numerous times to Federal judges and refused to abide by Federal court orders. Just like the Republicans on this Committee, he is part of the DHS coverup that is using American taxpayer dollars to brutalize tens of thousands of people, even killing them. When I say people, I am talking about citizens and otherwise. If the Republicans really wanted to know what was happening at Delaney Hall or any other detention facility, they would push for unannounced congressional and independent oversight. Since the Republicans claim to be Christian, they should open their Bibles and read Ephesians 5:11 that states, ``Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.'' I yield back. Mr. Van Drew. I thank the Ranking Member. It was a combination of a speech and a little sermon at the end, great. With that, I will ask the Chair of the Full Committee, the gentleman from Ohio. Chair Jordan. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for this hearing. I want to thank our witnesses for being here. The Chair has been there. The Chair talked about the false narrative. He has been there and seen it for himself. The reason the Democrats don't want to talk about anything other than this, some of the things brought up by the Ranking Member in her opening statement, is because they want to take the message away from what they have done. I have said this in many hearings, I will continue to say it. Step 1. Let in 10 million illegal migrants in the Biden Administration, have no border. Step 2. Create sanctuary jurisdictions, which makes it difficult to remove those illegal migrants when they commit another crime. Step 3. Don't pay the guys, don't fund the guys who do the removing. They shut down the government twice, the two longest shutdowns in history, because they didn't want to pay ICE agents. They didn't want to pay Federal law enforcement to do their job. Eighteen cities, 11 States, three counties, and the District of Columbia are sanctuary jurisdictions. That represents almost a third of the country where the politicians tell local law enforcement, don't work with Federal law enforcement when it comes to enforcing Federal law. That is just dumb. I will continue to say that is stupid, not letting law enforcement work together to protect communities. We have had witness after witness, one of the most powerful ones I have ever seen was Jessica Gorman two weeks ago, who came and talked about what happened to her daughter in Chicago, a student at Loyola University out for a walk, and gets attacked and killed by an illegal migrant who had committed another crime and was out on bail in that sanctuary jurisdiction. They want to talk about anything else except what is going on. Oh, by the way, these prosecutors like Mr. Krasner, Mr. Descano, Alvin Bragg, all these prosecutors who, not just those three steps, let in 10 million, create sanctuary jurisdictions, don't fund the guys who do the removing. Step 4. We are going to treat illegal migrants who commit a crime, we are going to treat them better than American citizens who commit the same crime, because they all have policies that say, we will take into account the immigration status, deportation status of the migrant who committed a crime, when we determine what kind of charges we are going to bring and what kind of plea agreement we are going to have. That is ridiculous as well. That is stupid as well. Frankly, I think unconstitutional. That is why we have these hearings to highlight and underscore how ridiculous it is in now what represents almost a third of the country in these sanctuary jurisdictions. We have passed legislation out of this Committee. I hope sometime soon the bill passes the House and moves to the Senate, and actually becomes law, because a third of the country would be much better off if we got rid of this concept. With that, again, the Chair for his work for going there and for this hearing. Would yield back. Mr. Van Drew. I thank the Chair. I recognize the Ranking Member. Mr. Raskin. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to start by recognizing two of our colleagues in the audience, Representative Lamonica McIver, who represents New Jersey 10, and Representative Rob Menendez, New Jersey 8, they are with us today. We are talking about exactly what the Majority want us to talk about, because they control the agenda. They have called this hearing, and we have been responding to them. The ambiguous title of today's hearing, false narratives surrounding conditions at the Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center, naturally invites the question of whether the Majority is seeking to debunk false narratives or entrench false narratives. One clue is that the title does not refer to facts at all. Another is that the Majority has neither organized a committee visit to Delaney Hall, which we easily could have done, nor even undertaken the basic step of inviting an actual administration witness from ICE or the Department of Homeland Security to be with us here today to answer questions from Members of Congress. That doesn't sound much like an intensive fact-based investigation to me. ICE and Homeland Security have been concocting false narratives to mask the inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall and other ICE detention facilities since Stephen Miller and Donald Trump launched their 2,000 arrests a day quota onslaught against American communities and immigrants. An entire ecosystem of lies and corruption now governs at ICE and the DHS where hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were spent by Kristi Noem on lavish private jets complete with bedrooms and wet bars, and narcissistic public relations campaigns where no-bid government contracts are passed out to MEGA donors like Mar-a-Lago party gift bags, and where obscene corruption is stacked on top of obscene cruelty. The DHS officials routinely lie to Federal judges about institutional conditions and practices. They and their lawyers have been caught over 800 times brazenly defying court orders and lying to Federal judges and magistrates. They are routinely excoriated in court for their lawlessness in their betrayal of the legal profession, but with no apparent effect on their behavior. American citizens like the people in this room have been held illegally for weeks by ICE. American citizens have been beaten, bloodied, and killed simply for exercising their First Amendment and their Second Amendment rights in a way disfavored by the masked paramilitary forces of ICE. The good Chair says, hey, if you don't like the wonderful accommodations at Delaney Hall offered by the Department of Homeland Securities, you can just self-deport whenever you want. Actually, it is not true. Check out a Federal District court decision handed down yesterday, Mr. Chair, on July 21st, in the United States District Court of the District of New Jersey, Marlon Andres Torres Gomez v. Luis Soto, Warden, Delaney Hall. Well, this is a case where a detainee of the deluxe accommodations got an agreement to get out on May 12th, while he was in custody. An immigration judge ordered that his self-deportation be allowed. Then, it was set for June 10th. Guess what? He had a plane ticket, he had an agreement with ICE, he had agreement with Delaney Hall, and then they blocked him from leaving the country at the airport. Brought him back and said he was now in custody of ICE all over again. Now, this District Court opinion strikes that down and says it is an absolute violation of habeas corpus in the agreement that ICE made. Even if you assume that Delaney Hall has the kind of accommodations that Ghislaine Maxwell has down at the prison camp she was switched to by Todd Blanche when he liked what she had to say about Donald Trump's involvement with the Epstein files, and then suddenly she got the Deluxe Trump Hotel treatment, including use of a therapy puppy, room service in her cell, and so on. Even if you assume that is going on with everybody at Delaney Hall, you can't get out, at least maybe they will change their tune now with this court decision. We have heard about other cases like this. One of the officers suggested to me the reason why there are really bad conditions at some of these facilities, is because Stephen Miller and Donald Trump want people to leave. They don't want them to have their day before an administrative judge. They want to make it as miserable as possible for people, so they self-deport. I would leave it to the judgment of Members of the Committee whether that is the way that America should be treating people in this situation. Nonetheless, Delaney Hall is a detention facility owned and operated by GEO Group, a private for-profit prison contractor that has a billion-dollar government contract to operate this facility for people being held on civil immigration charges. Roughly 90 percent of the 891 people detained at Delaney Hall in April had no criminal record. By DHS's own accounting, 90 percent had no criminal record. Of the one in ten detainees who did have a criminal record, the most common offenses were traffic violations. In May of this year, 300 detainees launched a hunger and labor strike. They described being treated like animals. They and their lawyers reported meals of rotten meat, expired meals, meals with worms in them. Senator Andy Kim, our former House colleague, who conducted unannounced oversight visits of the facility reported seeing milk so spoiled, it had curdled completely. Detainees say the water is foul tasting and undrinkable. People were forced to sleep on floors due to overcrowding. As billions of dollars of taxpayer money are pocketed by corporations in lavish inside contracts, detainees experience poor ventilation, extreme cold in winter, scalding showers, physical abuse by guards, and a shortage of basic necessities. The medical conditions of detainees are alarming. Rita Lynn Harris, a detainee with glaucoma, anemia, high blood pressure, and circulation problems, was denied her medications, because facility officials called her care ``cosmetic.'' Senator Kim met with a pregnant detainee who was not receiving appropriate OB/GYN care. Another woman received no medical attention after she had had a miscarriage. Delaney Hall is not an isolated case. Across the country, the bureaucratic indifference of ICE and extravagant profiteering of its corporate partners, create ghastly conditions in many cases. In a New Mexico center, a detainee experiencing unbearable dental pain that had been left untreated for months, despite repeated requests to see a dentist, Mr. Chair, pulled out his own tooth. In Texas, the converging indifference of Kristi Noem and the sadistic incompetence of RFK, Jr., produced an epidemic outbreak of measles. At Camp East Montana, ICE's largest detention center in the State, which then contributed to the measles pandemic already raging in Texas. According to the Associated Press, detainees report that even the most basic care is denied there. A gauze bandage to protect an open foot wound, prenatal care for a high-risk pregnancy, a pillow to ease the pain of sleeping with advanced stomach cancer, sanitary pads for postpartum bleeding, all of these are complaints that have been filed with the facility. Since the Administration took office, more than 50 people have died in ICE custody. More have died in custody in 2025, than in any year in the last two decades. The rate of death in ICE custody is spiking, because the conditions are simply worse than they have ever been before. ICE and the DHS traffic in lawless violence, propaganda, and disinformation to mask all the corruption and cruelty, which are the daily bread of the system. In Minneapolis, ICE and Border Patrol agents shot dead Renee Good and Alex Pretti in broad daylight at point blank range, and then defamed both of these innocent Americans, (1) a mother of three, and (2) a VA nurse, by labeling them domestic terrorists. The new regime at DHS under Secretary Mullin, well, the jury is still out, but we haven't seen much change yet. Just weeks ago in Texas, an ICE officer killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a construction worker who had lived and worked in America without any incident. No criminal convictions or charges for 35 years. Federal law enforcement tried to justify the killing by saying officers found suspicious substances in his car. The suspicious substance turned out to be salt. In Maine, just a week later, an ICE officer with a history of psychological issues and domestic violence he threw his 13- year-old daughter through a glass table, fatally shot 26-year- old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, the father of a three-year-old girl, whom he treated like a princess according to her mother. At what point do we say enough is enough? The government isn't targeting the worst of the worst. It is behaving like the worst of the worst. The DHS agents are arresting kindergartners, daycare teachers, and parents dropping off children at school. Roving gangs of of- ficials are abducting children from their beds in the middle of the night or using them as bait to catch and arrest their frantic parents. The DHS is rounding up workers with lawful status working at small businesses as roofers, plumbers, landscapers, farm hands, and nurses. They are arresting refugees who went through stringent vetting to come here and targeting migrants who are following the law, by showing up at their court hearings in ICE check-ins. At what point will we finally say enough to this? This is not America. My friends, I am happy to hear about what is happening in Delaney Hall. I should think we should do investigations about all the detention centers across the country where people are complaining. This is a Nation that is built on immigration, except for the descendants of people who are brought here, kidnaped, abducted, and turned into slaves. Except for the Native Americans, all of us are descendants of immigrants. The vast majority of people being held in these facilities are not criminals of any variety. We should get back to the rule of law in America and remember the Statue of Liberty. Remember what Tom Payne said when he got here in 1774. He said, if this Nation lives up to its values and ideals, it will become an asylum to humanity, not an insane asylum, but a place of refuge for people seeking freedom from religious, intellectual, and political repression from all over the world. Let's get back to the America that still lives in our hearts. I yield back to you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Van Drew. I respect the Ranking Member, and I mean that, I do. I don't have the opportunity to respond to all that right now because of the rules. I want to say, I thoroughly and robustly disagree with you. I think there is a lot that goes through there. I just do not believe that is accurate from what I have seen with my own eyes. I will still put that out there. Anybody who wants to get a certified lie detector and put me on it, put those folks that said they saw all this on it, and we will see what happens. With that, without objection, all the opening statements will be included in the record. Mr. Van Drew. We will now introduce today's witnesses. Mr. Andrew R. Arthur. Mr. Arthur is a Resident Fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies. He previously served as a staffer to this Committee, the Oversight Committee, and as an immigration judge with the Department of Justice. Mr. Art Del Cueto. I said that correctly, right, I thought. Mr. Del Cueto is a Border Security Advisor at the Federation for American Immigration Reform. He previously served for more than two decades as a Border Patrol Agent. It is always good to hear from people on the ground who really have seen and heard it. Mr. Scott Mechkowski. Mr. Mechkowski is a retired law enforcement officer who served more than 24 years with what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When he retired, Mr. Mechkowski was serving as the Deputy Director of ICE in New York City. Mr. Sinha, I want to try to say it right, Amol Sinha. Good. Mr. Sinha is the Executive Director of the ACLU, New Jersey. He previously worked on the Innocence Project and with the New York Civil Liberties Union. We will begin by swearing you all in. Please rise. Raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, so help you God? All. I do. Mr. Van Drew. Thank you. Let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Thank you, and please be seated. Please know that your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, we ask you to summarize your testimony in five minutes. Mr. Mechkowski, you may begin. STATEMENT OF SCOTT MECHKOWSKI Mr. Mechkowski. Chair Van Drew, Ranking Member Crockett, and the Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to appear in front of you today. For more than 24 years, I served in the Federal Government with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, legacy Immigration Naturalization Service. I retired as a Deputy Director in New York City in 2018. I ran detention centers during that time in ICE. I personally managed hunger strikes in custody and medical emergencies, and I also oversaw correctional facility inspections. I spent more than three decades in the U.S. Army, including as noncommissioned officer in charge of a theater internment facility in Camp Cropper, Baghdad. I ran a detention facility in a war zone. When I tell you how a place like the Delaney Hall actually works, I am not theorizing. I am describing what I did for a living, the views that I offer are my own, and they are not of ICE. Let me start with what the critics have been driving in this hearing, will not say out loud. Detention standards are not aspirational. Delaney Hall runs under enforceable national detention standards that are inspected, audited by multiple entities, and written down. When a detainee declares a hunger strike, there is nothing left for the officer's discretion. It triggers a written protocol. Medical referrals, daily monitoring, weigh-ins, a paper trail at every step. The facts are all available to you. They are written down. Congress can conduct oversight to reveal the real truth. Instead of manufacturing hoaxes for partisan gain, the record will not support the allegations that brought us here today. I will start with the hunger strike. The DHS reported that commissary sales at Delaney Hall nearly tripled while it was supposedly underway, from $11,500 the week before May 26th, to more than $30,000 the week before January 1st. People who are starving themselves in protest do not triple commissary spending. It is not a hunger strike when the detainee refuses meals at chow time. Only to stuff his face with hot Cheetos and Twinkies in his dormitory at night. Taking overcrowding, when social unrest started outside Delaney Hall, the claims of overcrowding fed that false narrative and contributed to the anger. Delaney Hall has been built for 1,000 beds. The population on that day was 766. On May 25th, when these claims first surfaced, it fell to 521 detainees by June 15th. That is barely half full. Take the food, the New Jersey State Health Inspection on June 8th found the kitchen sanitary and satisfactory, no evidence of rodents or vermin. The menu accommodates religious diets. The Border Czar showed up unannounced and ate the same meals served to detainees every day and stated it was fine. Let's take the history of Delaney Hall, this building operated as an ICE detention site from 2011-2017. New Jersey's leaders said nothing. The standards haven't changed. The building hasn't changed. What changed is who sits in the White House. The double standard runs deeper. Last year, 33 people died in ICE facilities nationwide. In New Jersey's own prisons, an average of 48 die every single year from 2018-2024, yet no one marched outside any one of those State prisons. This is never about conditions at Delaney Hall. It is not about the money, because New Jersey has never minded, the State collected taking our money. The State has collected more than $4 million fiscally in 2024, to hold criminal aliens in its own Department of Corrections and roughly $5.8 million in State criminal aliens' assistance programs. Delaney Hall also supports 300 union jobs, which brings an estimated $50 million into the local economy activity. The owners of the facility pay property taxes to the city of Newark, and they are steep. The State cashes every single check. Then, it drives to the gate for the cameras. What gets sold to the public as a peaceful protest is really nothing else. It is a coordinated activity meant to obstruct Federal law enforcement and to cease operations. Newark has told its own police not to respond to calls at Delaney Hall. The Americans working inside that facility are taxpayers. They live and work in Newark and Essex County and are being denied police protection for doing a lawful job. The men and women at Delaney Hall enforce the laws that this Congress wrote under the standards, stricter than any American jail that hold American citizens. They deserve better and not to be used as props. Let's do facts. This is a tell on how the critics operate. Senator Booker announced his visit on social media. Senator Kim came for a meeting. Congressman Rob Menendez and Congressman Watson Coleman turned the anniversary of their own visit into a Bill signing and rolled out video in front of Delaney Hall. Congressman McIver is currently under Federal indictment on three counts, including two felonies for allegedly assaulting and impeding Federal law enforcement officers at this facility. Mr. Van Drew. Mr. Mechkowski, I am so sorry, but your time has expired. If you can just wrap it up in a sentence or two. Mr. Mechkowski. Yes. Well, I want to take the moment and stop this and say, when you want a moment, you bring a podium and a camera. Let's stop with the theatrics and I look forward to your questions. [The prepared statement of Mr. Mechkowski follows:] [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] Mr. Van Drew. Thank you for your service, Mr. Mechkowski. Mr. Del Cueto, you may begin. STATEMENT OF ART DEL CUETO Mr. Del Cueto. Chair Van Drew, Ranking Member Crockett, and the Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. It is a privilege to be here. My name is Art Del Cueto, I spent my career on the front lines of immigration enforcement and also served as a corrections officer in the State of Arizona. I now am a Border Security Advisor for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. I am here today because what is happening at Delaney Hall is part of something much larger and far more sinister than any facility in Newark. For four years, the Biden Administration operated a deliberate antiborder policy enabling millions of illegal aliens to enter our country. Between Fiscal Year 2021-2024, CBP encountered more than 170,000 illegal aliens with criminal warrants or convictions at our borders. On top of that, nearly 2,000 suspected terrorists and over 1.7 million special interest aliens from countries posing potential national risks, were encountered. Illegal aliens who should have been detained in facilities like Delaney Hall and removed, were instead released into the American communities. The consequences were devastating and could have been avoided. Sheridan Gorman, Jocelyn Nungaray, and Laken Riley, among others, were killed by illegal aliens that should have been in detention facilities instead of roaming the streets. While violent crime is the most visible consequence of illegal immigration, it is far from the only one. Illegal immigrants impose considerable costs on every American taxpayer, every American renter, and every American worker competing for employment in the sectors most affected by illegal alien labor, not to mention the enormous strain on our public benefits. The Trump Administration is now working to reverse that damage by strengthening and expanding detention capacity. These efforts are working, which is exactly why these antiborder radicals are increasingly desperate. The allegations against Delaney Hall simply do not hold up to the facts. During the period when a hunger strike was claimed to be going on, commissary sales at that facility surged 161 percent. White House Border Czar, Tom Homan, visited unannounced and ate the same food as detainees. Reported they were ordering from the commissary in their cells. The facts are that ICE provides three dietician-approved meals a day onsite, medical care, and access to family and counseling. It is not only activists spreading these lies, it is elected officials and the Members of Congress. In May 2025, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested after attempting to force his way into the Delaney Hall facility. Congresswoman Lamonica McIver was also charged following the incident. Many more have repeated their calls to abolish ICE. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill was forced to acknowledge that the extreme elements in these protests and that many of the so- called protestors were not even from New Jersey. In response to her call for demonstrators to bring the temperature down, the Democratic Socialists of America New Jersey Chapter and the Climate Revolution Action Network of New Jersey responded by declaring we are going to turn up the noise. The goal of these movements is clear, DSA supports abolishing ICE and the end of all immigration detention. The New York City Mayor supports abolishing ICE. The sitting Members of Congress also agree. Make no mistake, the radical antiborder crowd is increasingly setting the agenda. These are not reasonable critiques or policy alternatives; they are blatant attacks on the U.S. sovereignty and immigration enforcement itself. This type of rhetoric from our elected officials not only raises the temperature, but it emboldens protestors into confrontations and incites more violence. Continuing to liken ICE officers to Nazis will continue to lead to the radicals taking matters into their own hands. Since the beginning of President Trump's second term, the DHS has documented 1,300 percent increase in assaults on ICE agents, 3,200 percent increase in vehicular attacks, and 8,000 percent increase in death threats. Why are these radical activists and politicians targeting Delaney Hall and other detention facilities? It is simple, detention works. More illegal aliens are opting for voluntary departure, and border crossings have dropped dramatically since President Trump took over office. Without detention, the message to every would be border crosser is that there are no consequences. The smear campaign against Delaney Hall is part of a broader assault on immigration enforcement and on the men and women in uniform, like those who I proudly served with in the United States Border Patrol. They are tasked with carrying out the job that Congress gave them through their immigration laws. I encourage Congress to stand with the men and women of ICE and the men and women of Border Patrol, and support them in doing their jobs, not incite more violence. Thank you again for this opportunity. I look forward to your questions. [The prepared statement of Mr. Del Cueto follows:] [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] Mr. Van Drew. Thank you for your service. We will now move to Mr. Arthur. STATEMENT OF ANDREW R. ARTHUR Mr. Arthur. Chair Van Drew, Ranking Member Crockett, Ranking Member Raskin, Mr. Johnson, thank you for inviting me here today. First, a confession. I've never been to Delaney Hall, and I've never toured the facility to assess any of the allegations that have been made about it. That said, for more than eight years, including six as a staffer for this Committee, I exercised oversight jurisdiction over ICE detention facilities and visited many. In addition, I served for an additional eight years as an immigration judge at the York County Prison in Pennsylvania, which contracted with ICE for detention space. I walked the facility, I ate in the dining hall, and I worked out in the weight room. Consequently, I am intimately familiar with how ICE detains aliens and the national detention standards under which it operates. As the Third Circuit described it last year, the elephant in the room today is the fact that State and local officials in New Jersey oppose immigration detention in the Garden State. Second, the legislature enacted AB 5207 to prohibit entities there from contracting with ICE to run detention facilities. The Third Circuit subsequently concluded that this law applied to ICE's Elizabeth detention facility was an improper attempt to, quote, ``dictate the manner in which the Federal immigration function is carried out,'' in a violation of the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity. Such efforts have continued, however, and shortly after GEO announced it would be opening Delaney Hall for ICE detention, the mayor vowed to ``padlock,'' the facility and then the city sued GEO, complaining Delaney Hall didn't receive proper permits and local officials had been denied access. GEO has requested the case be dismissed because ICE wasn't added as a party, but in any event, it appears city inspectors have subsequently been allowed access. Nonetheless, in June, the State sued GEO contending health inspectors had been denied, quote, ``full access,'' to Delaney Hall when they arrived in response to conditions there. In response, the DOJ complained about the politicization of the issue while also contending ICE has, quote, ``Authorized access to the facility for a reasonable and appropriate inspection pursuant to the State's written request.'' Both cases are ongoing, but key constitutional Federal doctrines, as I laid out in my written testimony, will govern the court's resolution of each. Most notable is what I talked about before, intergovernmental immunity, a principle under which State attempts to regulate the Federal Government directly or State actions that discriminate against the U.S. Government or those with whom it deals are invalid. While those doctrines may invalidate State action, they cannot and should not restrict Federal oversight including and especially congressional oversight. Such oversight, as I explained at the outset, was my stock in trade for more than eight years, but both my bosses and I were--some of whom are surrounding us today--always conscious of performing it in such a way so as not to impede the very functions that we were investigating. That was particularly true when it came to immigration detention. The security of facilities and the safety of the officers and detainees therein was always paramount, and I was always willing to comply with reasonable restrictions imposed on me when touring the facilities, and I continue to believe, with due respect, that is the appropriate policy. Skepticism, of course, is the best policy when conducting oversight, and there's always a danger that what Congress is being told isn't the full truth. There are, however, numerous safeguards built into the system to ensure that problems aren't hidden, and the Legislative Branch is not deceived. By my count, five congressional Committees oversee ICE detention to say nothing of the DHS Inspector General, other internal watchdogs, Office of Professional Responsibility, et cetera, the Government Accountability Office, the media, and internal whistleblowers. Moreover, ICE's detention standards are contractual and as enforceable as any contract, and the agency expects performance. I understand that many oppose immigration detention, but I'll also note that the first law passed this Congress was the Laken Riley Act, which mandated detention and empowered the States to sue to ensure it occurs. You can understand why ICE officers in New Jersey and elsewhere feel like they're getting whipsawed by this body. Finally, even if local politicians successfully forced ICE detention out of New Jersey, that doesn't mean aliens would be released. Instead, they'd be sent far away from their families and their lawyers, and that would not make their cases or their plights any easier. Again, I thank you for your time and I look forward to your questions, and I yield back. [The prepared statement of Mr. Arthur follows:] [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] Mr. Van Drew. Thank you, Mr. Arthur. Mr. Sinha, you may begin. STATEMENT OF AMOL SINHA Mr. Sinha. Chair Van Drew, Ranking Member Crockett, Committee Chair Jordan, Ranking Member Raskin, and the Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Amol Sinha. I lead the ACLU of New Jersey. For over 105 years, the ACLU has fought against abuses of power and for the civil rights and liberties of all Americans under both Democratic and Republican Administrations alike. We have represented individuals and institutions across the ideological spectrum, recently including a supporter of President Trump's in New Jersey, the NRA, Black Lives Matter leaders, students, veterans, and many more, all with one common goal, to uphold the promises of the Constitution. I'm here today to share what people in New Jersey and across the country are facing at the hands of an agency that has acted with no accountability for far too long. In just the past two weeks, two fathers were shot dead by ICE agents. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was gunned down in the streets of Houston. Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero was killed outside his family's apartment in Maine, his three-year-old daughter nearby is still in her Bluey pajamas. These killings happened in broad daylight in front of witnesses with cell phone cameras rolling, and this is what happens when the whole country is watching. What confidence can we possibly have behind the locked doors of a facility like Delaney Hall? I want to address the premise of this hearing directly. Its title suggests that reports of maltreatment at Delaney Hall are a false narrative. That claim does not survive contact with the record. The people detained at Delaney Hall have told us in their own words, and I quote, ``they tell us, We have no rights here.'' I met with an individual recently detained there. When he arrived, the food smelled so rancid he didn't eat for 3 days. When he finally ate to avoid starving, he was in severe pain. He asked a guard for a doctor. The guard said that he only spoke English and couldn't help. It took seven more days for a doctor to finally see him, and by the time he was released, the pain was so severe that he ended up in the hospital for a week, requiring surgery for a serious GI condition that he developed while in detention. I wish I could tell you that his case was unusual, but I could sit here and tell you about the man denied his wheelchair for 40 days, the 18-year-old denied the ability to finish high school on time, the husband who lost so much weight that even lying down became physically painful. This is the pattern: The lack of access to medical care, the coercion to sign purportedly voluntary departure agreements, the unsanitary conditions in inedible food, the broken air conditioning in 100-degree temperatures. Every person I've spoken with, every letter that has come out of that facility, tells some version of a similar account. When these individuals saw no other option, hundreds of them engaged in a hunger and labor strike for weeks to call attention to the injustices, and I think we can all agree on a simple truth. No one should have to starve themselves for the government to recognize their humanity. In turn, ICE responded with pepper spray, solitary confinement, and punitive transfers. People are dying at these facilities at an alarming rate. More than 50 people have died in ICE custody under this administration, the deadliest period on record. Jean Wilson Brutus died in ICE custody after one day of being detained at Delaney Hall. ICE is sending a chilling message to every family in New Jersey and across the country. Being an immigrant and exercising your solidarity with immigrants is unsafe. The Trump Administration has told us repeatedly that ICE is going after the worst criminal offenders and claims that who's detained at a facility like Delaney Hall are exactly those folks. In fact, this administration's own data undercuts that false narrative. Over 70 percent of the people held at Delaney Hall have no criminal history whatsoever. Nearly 90 percent have no criminal conviction. Eighty-four percent don't have a final order of removal. We're spending billions of taxpayer dollars detaining people who pose no threat to the public, while GEO Group pockets over $60 million a year from Delaney Hall alone. Delaney Hall is not an outlier. This year alone there have been at least six other hunger strikes in ICE facilities nationwide. When you pour billions of dollars into a detention infrastructure that's already riddled with abuse with no oversight, it comes at a human cost. The people who participated in the hunger strike at Delaney Hall put their bodies on the line. We must act now. If this Subcommittee is truly concerned about the narrative around Delaney Hall, there's a simple fix. End the cover-up by ICE and the GEO Group. If you want the truth about what's happening at Delaney Hall and every facility like it, open it up to independent, unannounced, and uncensored oversight. Allow the press in. Allow Members of Congress in. Allow advocacy organizations in for full access. Pass the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act and conduct oversight as the Members of Congress are empowered to do. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions. [The prepared statement of Mr. Sinha follows:] [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] Mr. Van Drew. Thank you for your testimony. I will yield five minutes to myself. It's come to my attention, Martin Soto, some of you should know that name. He's the gentleman who led the hunger strike. Some folks were making him out to be a hero, the self- sacrificial man who loved America so much and these poor immigrants and so forth. We have just gotten some information about him, and everybody can check this out. It's all accurate. He was a Peruvian national who was supposedly picked up while purchasing some diapers, according to his wife. Well, here's the real deal; the documents that were obtained by the Committee on February 2nd, Soto was incarcerated at Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny, New Jersey, which is just outside Newark, New Jersey. Soto was arrested by Kearny police the previous day on February 1, 2026, for a charge of domestic violence. He committed assault, purposely causing bodily injury specifically by using his hands open and closed to strike his wife in the face, causing scratches and cuts to her face and neck. He also placed a hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream while she was being beaten. He ain't my hero. It's not what I call a hero, the guy who led the hunger strike, and that's the point I want to make, man. I just think that folks are on the wrong, some folks, my friends to the Left physically and actually, I guess, philosophically here, they're on the wrong side of this. I really do. There are good people and people that aren't so good. I'm getting really basic here. Bad people need to be incarcerated. We need to keep good families and good people safe. The Chair just listed a whole number of people. We can go through, I don't want to bore you, of all the families, people just like you, men and women and children, that have been hurt, lives lost. It's horrible. Why is it always that the other side is on their side? I don't get it. Sincerely, I do not get it. I don't understand it. For one, I'm not going to tolerate it because it's wrong. I want to just segue a little bit into something else, but it's all related because we all hear all this anti-law enforcement, no more ICE, and no more law enforcement. There are some of those now on the other side of the aisle--I'm not saying these folks here, but there are people that want to abolish ICE completely, want to abolish law enforcement, abolish prisons, and abolish corrections. I'm going to ask the three of you, and if you want to answer you can, too. It's going to be very quick answers, because I've used up a lot of time already. The July 20th, attack outside 26 Federal Plaza, does that reflect an increasing threat to Federal immigration facilities and the personnel who work there, who I feel sorry for? In other words, these folks are at risk. They're just doing their job. They're the good guys. They're being responsible, trying to do their job, and they're at risk of violent attack, in my opinion. Mr. Mechkowski, in a few words. Mr. Mechkowski. Thank you, Chair. Yes, 100 percent. Everybody knows that 26 Federal Plaza houses ICE and other Federal agencies, and just an example of what we dealt with every day in New York City. Mr. Van Drew. We have got people in leadership that fire these people up, that go over there and cause all this havoc and hurt other people in law enforcement. It's hard to be at any level of law enforcement these days. It's even hard for the--I spoke to some of the State troopers and they can't say anything on the record in New Jersey. They were doing a great job, and because the Left didn't want them there anymore--they were doing a great job, and everybody was working together. ICE was safe. They were safe. The people inside were safe. They were pulled away because they didn't want that, wanted chaos. Mr. Del Cueto? Mr. Del Cueto. Yes, sir, absolutely. That and other attacks that have also happened at ICE facilities in the last several months are a direct result of that. Mr. Van Drew. The words we use, the inflammatory rhetoric, God help us. Mr. Arthur, quickly. Mr. Arthur. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I will refer back to the 100-year sentence that was handed out for the mastermind of the attack at the Alvarado Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas. These are serious crimes. They're a danger. When I served, I was threatened. I can talk about it in a more private setting if you'd like, but yes, it's a real problem. It's always been a real problem and-- Mr. Van Drew. It's getting worse. Mr. Arthur. Getting worse. Mr. Van Drew. Yes. Mr. Sinha, quickly, just to show I'm fair? Mr. Sinha. Chair, look, whenever somebody conducts a violent act, they are held accountable by the criminal legal system. I don't think it has anything to do with the words being used. Mr. Van Drew. I don't--forgive me, but I don't believe that. I believe politics enters into it. I don't think they're always held liable. It depends where the process takes place, and in some of these Blue cities and Blue localities, they're not held responsible and they're made out to be heroes. Violence against law enforcement has become popular, and it's wrong and I'm tired of it. I think most Americans are too. I'm over my time. With that, I will--Ranking Member, remind me who's next. Yes, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson, the gentleman from Georgia. Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Americans are getting tired of seeing each other shot down in the streets by rogue, renegade, reckless ICE agents. This hearing is entitled, ``False Narratives Surrounding Conditions at the Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center.'' That was the topic of the discussion today. What we got from Mr. Arthur is a dissertation on the restrictions on State regulation of Federal functions. I'm going to read your paper tonight as I put myself to sleep. Mr. Arthur. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson. Then, not a single witness in here has testified that it's false, that's what happening at Delaney Hall are overcrowded cells crammed with inmates. Not a single Republican witness refuted that. Not a single Republican witness commented about the denial of access to toilets and clean drinking water at Delaney Hall. Nobody talked about food being adulterated and inedible at Delaney Hall. Not a single Republican MAGA witness testified about the denial of medical care to detainees. The only person who testified about that was Mr. Sinha and he told us of the horrors of what's going on inside Delaney Hall, and I suspect that the Chair, when he took his visit, he announced ahead of time that he was going. What did they do? They rolled out the red carpet for him and showed him exactly what they wanted him to see, and then probably fed him a steak dinner afterwards with a glass of champagne and a cigar. Today, he is here to tell you about what's going on at Delaney Hall. I would exclaim to you that perhaps you should call my colleague LaMonica McIver, who is sitting here with us today about six or seven months pregnant, she and her husband expecting their second child, having to go through the trauma of a persecution by the Trump Justice Department, Todd Blanche Justice Department. She's here. She's been on unannounced visits, and she could tell you exactly what's happening at Delaney Hall. She could back up what Mr. Sinha said. Let me ask you, Mr. Mechowski, you've never worked for a for-profit corporation that runs for-profit detention facilities, have you? Mr. Mechkowski. Congressman, thanks for the question. Mr. Johnson. Have you, yes or no? Mr. Mechkowski. No. Mr. Johnson. When's the last time you visited Delaney Hall? Mr. Mechkowski. When Delaney--before I retired, sir. Before it closed in 2017. Mr. Johnson. That was back in 2018, yes. That's been what-- almost 10 years ago. Mr. Mechkowski. I don't know if you heard me. Mr. Johnson. What about you, Mr. Del Cueto? When's the last time you visited Delaney Hall? Mr. Del Cueto. Del Cueto, sir. Mr. Johnson. Del Cueto, I'm sorry. Mr. Del Cueto. I have not visited Delaney Hall. Mr. Johnson. Never in your life? Mr. Del Cueto. No, sir, but I have been at various different immigration facilities that have detained people. Mr. Johnson. You have personal--you have no personal knowledge--you have no personal knowledge on which to reasonably conclude that the reports about cruel and inhumane and unusual, or not unusual at Trump ICE facilities, you have no personal knowledge on which you can reasonably conclude that what Mr. Sinha has reported about the conditions at Delaney Hall are true or false. Isn't that correct? Mr. Del Cueto. My personal knowledge would be from seeing other immigration detention facilities throughout my career. Mr. Johnson. You've never been to Delaney Hall, though? Mr. Del Cueto. I haven't, but I've been to numerous other immigration detention facilities. Mr. Johnson. What you saw at your detention facilities were those public or private, by the way? Mr. Del Cueto. They were both. Mr. Johnson. You've always worked for public-- Mr. Del Cueto. No, sir, they were both private and public as well as State-run facilities. Mr. Johnson. All right. You don't know what's going on at Delaney Hall. Let me ask Mr. Sinha. Mr. Sinha, can you tell us more about the 50 people who have died in ICE custody since Trump returned to office, and can you opine on the fact that 2026 is already the deadliest year in immigration detention since the Department of Homeland Security was founded? Mr. Sinha. Thank you for the question, Congressman. Mr. Van Drew. I'll let you answer that question, and then the gentleman's time has expired. Mr. Sinha. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The number of deaths is disproportionate to even the increase of detention in this country. The number of people detained across the country has increased by 77 percent and also the deaths in custody have increased by 300 percent. We're talking about a radical increase in the number of people that are killed or dying while detained in immigration detention. Mr. Johnson. It's a shame that we are allowing that. Now, GEO Group-- [Simultaneous speaking.] Mr. Van Drew. The gentleman's time has expired. Mr. Johnson. --but they were not called and nor were ICE or Customs and Border Patrol-- Mr. Van Drew. The gentleman's time has expired. Mr. Johnson. Nobody called. Just three guys with no personal knowledge. With that, I yield back. Mr. Van Drew. I thank the gentleman. I definitely did not get a red carpet, a cigar, champagne, or a steak dinner. Hank, you should probably do all that for me with all the aggravation you're giving me on this Committee. With that, I ask the gentleman, the Chair, from the great State of Ohio. Chair Jordan. Mr. Mechowski, is it easier to pick up a criminal on the street or at the detention center? Mr. Mechkowski. Congressman, thank you for the question. It's always safer facility to facility. Chair Jordan. Yes, it is. That's what sanctuary jurisdiction is all about. You've got a detainer notice. Federal Government, Federal law enforcement knows that the migrant in the detention center, the local detention center, entered the country illegally but has been alleged to commit some other crime, but there's a detainer notice. Hold that guy. Let us get him there instead of out on the street, right? Mr. Mechkowski. Yes, Congressman. Chair Jordan. Yes, just in simple terms--I used the term earlier, but I don't know anyone better--this is like really just do you think it's a dumb policy, sanctuary jurisdiction? Do you think it's just a dumb policy that these local jurisdictions have? Mr. Mechkowski. I think it's absurd. Chair Jordan. Mr. Del Cueto? Mr. Del Cueto. I believe it creates a magnet for criminal behavior in our country. Chair Jordan. Yes. Mr. Arthur, what do you think? Do you think it's a bad idea? Mr. Arthur. It's a horrible idea, and when I started in immigration in the mid-90s, there were maybe a handful of sanctuary jurisdictions, but every cop wanted--every police department wanted to hand criminals over to the INS to get them off the streets of the-- Chair Jordan. Do sanctuary jurisdictions create tension between Federal, State, and local law enforcement? Mr. Arthur. Without a doubt. Chair Jordan. Yes. Mr. Del Cueto? Mr. Del Cueto. Absolutely, it does. Chair Jordan. Mr. Mechkowski? Mr. Mechkowski. Absolutely. Just look at New Jersey. It's a great example of that. Chair Jordan. Yes. That doesn't help--all this doesn't help, and I think it's something you already talked about--the safety concerns for law enforcement, for the public, and, frankly, for the migrant. Right? Jeopardizing the safety of everyone when you have these policies in place. Do you all agree with that? Mr. Mechkowski. Yes. Yes, Congressman. Chair Jordan. Yet, we have again, we did the research, almost a third of the country, 31.5 percent of the country, because you've got 18 big Blue cities, 18 big--or 11 big Blue States you have this thing, and we have actually seen it play out. In Denver, Colorado, illegal migrants who had committed another crime in the detention center. The notice gets sent to the detention center; will you hold this migrant until we get there? They stamp on the form, no, we're going to release him to the streets--release him to the streets. An ICE agent was hurt while apprehending this individual on the street. Again, just ridiculous. Didn't need to happen. Again, we're going to keep talking about this. Oh, the real concern, too, is that the ICE agent was hurt there but the situations where it could have been prevented, the person is released to the streets and then they go harm, in some cases, kill American citizens. Frankly, if that happens over in Fairfax County, Mr. Descano will take into account the person's immigration status. It's right in his policy when deciding what to charge that individual with, just adding insult to injury, adding dumbness on top of dumbness. It's just like that is crazy. This is something that just has to change in the country. We talked about having safer streets and everything else for the public. This is just so, so wrong, and it's all part of the Left's plan. Let in 10 million, as I said earlier, create sanctuary jurisdictions. Don't fund people like Mr. Mechkowski, ICE agents who go out there and enforce the law and then have prosecutors who do their ridiculous charging and plea bargain decisions and create this unsafe environment. That is what the Left wants today, and that's what they're carrying out and, again, it makes absolutely no sense. I want to thank the Chair for his good work on overseeing this and calling attention to what's going on at Delaney Center where the Left has said all these terrible things are happening, but he's visited there and just hasn't seen it. I'll yield the last minute back to the Chair of the Subcommittee for any questions or comments he has. Mr. Van Drew. Well, I want to thank you. The Chair of the Full Committee makes a good point, and really to focus in plain English for people so they understand it. Because we have sanctuary cities, States, jurisdictions, we let people out onto the streets, some of whom are violent, dangerous felons, get out; we don't cooperate with ICE, therefore, ICE finds itself in the middle of dangerous situations where the illegal can get hurt, they can get hurt, or just people that are involved can get hurt. That's where the real fault is. If we did everything the right way, which you all are willing to do, we wouldn't have the issue and, quite frankly, that's why so many of the problems are in Blue jurisdictions. We should never let these people out. I also would say Delaney Hall is not just a bunch of nice people. There may be some in there who aren't felons, but there are absolutely felons, drug dealers, rapists, and violent people that are held there. We don't want them outside. Also, by the way, speaking about the conditions there, the inspector general in New Jersey inspected the facilities--the State facilities in New Jersey. Far worse. They have to stand while they eat. Crowded conditions. Temperatures that go into the 1990s. Nobody says anything about them because it's a Blue jurisdiction. It just isn't fair, and what's good for one should be good for the other. With that, I have a few UCs that I want to put in for the record from some local media: First, The Delaney Hall menu options, ``Delaney Hall's menu options better than many Jersey school lunch choices'' Second, ``Fajitas, stir fry, barbecue chicken. See the food options provided to Delaney Hall.'' That was nj.com. Third, this is the New York Post, ``Inspectors finally got into the kitchen at ICE's Delaney Hall: Here's what they found.'' The detail is the good conditions there. It's also NewJersey.com. Fourth, ``Border czar Tom Holman ate the same meal as the detainees ate and he did just fine.'' Fifth, ``Delaney Hall's snack purchases cast doubt on what was supposed to be a real hunger strike in reports,'' and that was also, I believe--I'm trying to see what that was--Fox News. Fox News. Thank you. OK. With that being said, I think we are next. I'm going to recognize the Ranking Member of the Full Committee. Mr. Raskin. Thank you kindly, Mr. Chair. I think you just went over 2:25 seconds, so I'd appreciate a similar courtesy for myself. Mr. Van Drew. That means he's going to talk a lot. Mr. Raskin. You translated properly. Look, there's some things that we can all agree on here. We should take violent attacks on the police extremely seriously and reject it in every circumstance. Mr. Mechkowski, you've spoken passionately against violent assault on the police. Do you think it's a good idea to pardon felons convicted of violently assaulting police officers without looking at their individual criminal record or the threat that they may still pose to society? Mr. Mechkowski. I'm sorry, Congressman. Can you just repeat the question? Mr. Raskin. Do you think it's a good idea to pardon convicted felons who were convicted of violently assaulting police officers without consulting either their prior criminal history or the chances that they will reoffend? Mr. Mechkowski. Sir, that's up to the courts. I don't-- Mr. Raskin. You have no position on that? How about you, Mr. Del Cueto? Do you think that's a good idea? Mr. Del Cueto. That would be up to the courts, sir, and it would be possibly a case-by-case basis. Mr. Raskin. OK. Mr. Arthur, what do you think about that? Mr. Arthur. Because it's a pardon, it's not actually up to the courts. It would be up to the executive and the State. Normally, I would argue against that, but I also think I know where your question is going. Yes, I would oppose it. Mr. Raskin. All right. Mr. Sinha, what do you think about pardoning violent offenders who attack the police, brutalizing them in many cases, without consulting their prior criminal history or the chances that they'll reoffend? Mr. Sinha. There has to be a thorough review of the facts of a certain person's actions. Mr. Raskin. Individualized review or just in general like-- Mr. Sinha. Individualized review. I agree with clemency as a tool and executives should use clemency frequently. Mr. Raskin. OK. Mr. Sinha. There has to be a review. Mr. Raskin. The Chair said, ``Violence against law enforcement is wrong. I'm sick of it, and we can't tolerate it,'' and I agree with that. President Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people, hundreds of whom had violently assaulted our police officers, brutalizing them, injuring them, giving them traumatic brain injuries, concussions, heart attacks, strokes, without looking at a single one's individualized records, just pardoning them, all of them, en masse. Guess what? Ninety-seven of them have already gone on to reoffend today. They've been convicted of, so far, child sexual assault, home invasion, production of child pornography, conspiracy to murder an FBI agent, kidnapping, reckless homicide, domestic violence by strangulation, stalking, drug trafficking, burglary, and a lot more. I don't have time to get into all them. One guy, Andrew Paul Johnson, this guy was still in prison. Trump pardoned him, gave him clemency. He got out of prison and a few weeks later went and sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl and then tried to stop them from reporting him by saying he would give them some of the money that he gets from Donald Trump because he's a J6er and they're all going to get millions of dollars. Just to give you a sense of what's going on out there, so for those people who are categorically denouncing violence against the police, I'd like you guys to take that to heart and talk to some of the Capitol officers who are protecting us here today. You'll see them on your way out. Well, look, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was a 52-year-old construction worker and immigrant who lived in Houston for 35 years. He had no criminal record, no charges, and no arrests. On July 7th, he left home to pick up his brother and two coworkers to go work at a constructionsite of an American business. ICE agents in two unmarked cars looking for someone else saw him, and without turning on any lights or without any indication of who they were, began chasing his van. They surrounded his vehicle and attempted to force him off the road. Moments later, an ICE agent who was not wearing a body camera fired through Mr. Salgado's passenger side window, killing the father of three. Mr. Salgado had no record. He was not subject to a detention order. He was trying to go to work. Now, Mr. Mechkowski, you worked for ICE. You trained officers. Is it ever acceptable for ICE agents to pursue a vehicle in an unmarked car without using their lights or sirens? Do you know the rules for that? Mr. Mechkowski. Sir, since I retired policies may have changed, but I don't believe that policy pursuits were allowed. Mr. Raskin. Yes. It's in the ICE field manual. I've got the regulation right here, 8 CFR 287.8, saying that a designated pursuit vehicle is defined only as a vehicle equipped with emergency lights and siren placed in or on the vehicle that emit audible and visual signals. They didn't have that, and now this father of three is dead. Six days later, Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a 26-year- old father, left his home, crossed the country in Biddeford, Maine, to go to work to support his young family. He didn't get far. ICE agents driving an unmarked SUV rammed his vehicle, surrounded his car with guns drawn, and shot him in the head in front of his three-year-old daughter. Again, they weren't looking for him. They were going to look for somebody else, but they saw him and then chased him down and shot him in front of his daughter. She watched as ICE agents handcuffed her father's lifeless body to the steering wheel. The agent who killed him wasn't wearing a body camera. What's more, he had a history of serious domestic violence, and he'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He once threw boiling water in the face of his ex-wife, his first wife, while she was holding their child. His wife testified that he was a danger to society, and yet he was armed and deputized by ICE to go out and terrify people. Mr. Del Cueto, you served as a Border Patrol agent for 20 years. Should DHS be doing a background check screen for a history of domestic violence and psychiatric illness? Mr. Del Cueto. They do thorough background investigations. If something doesn't get reported, however, that's-- Mr. Raskin. Please wait. No, my question is should they do one? Mr. Del Cueto. They do one already. Mr. Raskin. No, they did not do one in this case. It did not happen. That did not happen, but it should happen, but it is typical now of ICE's hiring practices. Bring everybody in, just like Donald Trump's parties. We don't care really what your background is. Clothe you with the power of the Federal Government, turning our society upside down, turning Americans against each other, and having our officers shoot our people like Alex Pretti and Renee Good, dead at point-blank range in the streets of America. That's what this has led to. I yield back to you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Van Drew. I thank the gentleman. I recognize the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee. Ms. Crockett. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I just want to clarify one thing because there is this perception that is consistently put out there that if you are a Democrat, you are anti-law enforcement, that you are against the police. First, We are not anti-law enforcement. In fact, this weekend, I will be speaking at a national convention for law enforcement. Let me be clear about something. The most pro-law enforcement thing that you could ever do is making sure that the bad apples are absolutely treated as that, because bad officers make good officers look terrible. That is why real law enforcement has no problems when Democrats decide that they actually want to crack down and recognize that even law enforcement officers can commit crimes, because the last time I checked I don't understand who should be allowed to gun somebody down in the middle of the street who's not armed and seemingly just has a little bit of melanin. When it comes to Alex Pretti and Renee Good, that wasn't even the reasons. It was the fact that they had the audacity to stand for people that had melanin. Excuse me, but we are not anti-law enforcement. Let's put that on the record. Second, I want to deal with something that the Ranking Member opened up with earlier when he talked about Ghislaine Maxwell. The reality is that Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted by a jury of her peers and sentenced to 20 years in a Federal prison. Somehow, Ghislaine Maxwell has more privileges than people who aren't accused of going out and sexually assaulting children. This is why we have a problem, because it seems like our colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to want to protect pedophiles while at the same time going after people, most of them who have come to this country seeking a better life, seeking the America that we sell to the rest of the world, which is the land of opportunity and the land of the free. That is what we have sold the world on, yet seemingly that's not what's happening when they arrive, when they say that in their country there is something that is causing them to need to seek asylum from the harm that is taking place in their countries. Now, let me get to my official remarks before we have to go vote. It seems like those super PAC bands are making these Republicans dance. Isn't it interesting that thousands of White people storming the U.S. Capitol and beating police officers made it home safely, but Brown people posing no threat to ICE agents are suddenly killed in cold blood? The government pardoned those January 6th rioters, yet the same government is now calling the non-White people, most of whom have no criminal record, quote, ``terrorists and criminals.'' Mr. Sinha, why do you think this is? Mr. Sinha. Thank you for the question, Ranking Member Crockett. Ms. Crockett. I know you could talk forever but just give me a little something. Mr. Sinha. Look, I think every legal system, the criminal legal system, the immigration system is rife with racial injustice. We see it play out in the streets every single day. People of color are being targeted unfairly and unjustly, while those who are White and those who have money are being let off the hook repeatedly. That has been the story of America. That's been the story throughout our Nation's history, and it's the story that continues today. Ms. Crockett. Thank you so much. To the best of your knowledge, did any of the protesters at Delaney Hall brutally beat police officers with steel pipes? Mr. Sinha. No. Ms. Crockett. What about spraying police officers with bear spray? Mr. Sinha. No. Ms. Crockett. What about tasing officers in the neck or stomping their heads? Mr. Sinha. No. Ms. Crockett. Who would you rather live next to, one of the thousands of immigrants without criminal records but are being targeted by ICE, or someone like David Daniel, a Trump supporter who was pardoned, but was found to be in possession of child pornography and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor? Mr. Sinha. I would rather live next to one of the thousand immigrants. Ms. Crockett. Now, the Justice Department has taken the unprecedented step by criminally charging Congresswoman McIver. Why do you think the Republicans in Congress are louder about nonviolent immigrants without criminal records but silent about the Executive Branch prosecuting a Member of the Legislative Branch for conducting legitimate legislative business? Mr. Sinha. Thank you for bringing up the case against Ms. McIver. Every single Member of Congress should be outraged by what's happening to her, regardless of party, because they are going after a Congresswoman for doing her job. That's why we at the ACLU had filed an amicus brief in support of her and calling for the charges to be dropped. They are going after a sitting Congresswoman for doing her job and nothing else, and we're going to continue fighting for her. Ms. Crockett. Thank you. My next question was about your amicus brief, but I'll move on now because you already brought it up. We have already established in this hearing--not just in this hearing but, honestly, the American people are not crazy. The American people are outraged. They're trying to pretend as if people are just going to Delaney Hall and it's simply because Delaney Hall is just, I don't know, the victim in this particular set of circumstances. No one today, as we have gone through this hearing, has decided to say the name of Jean Brutus, a 41-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti, and for those that don't know the history of what was going on in Haiti, but there was a brutal overtaking of the government in Haiti. They actually had gang members that actually went in and brutally murdered their leader. There's a safety issue that has taken place in Haiti. He was an asylum seeker. December 12, 2025, he ended up dying in Delaney Hall. He had only been in Delaney Hall for one day. While some may want to pretend as if there's nothing to see, in fact, we should have had a hearing that would have allowed us to get to the bottom of and potentially seek justice and make sure that other people don't die in our custody in an unwarranted and unlawful way. That is what I want to do, Mr. Chair, and I hope that we can move forward with making sure that anyone who is taken into our immigration system that they are taken in and they are given their day in court and they get due process, but their constitutional rights are not violated. Thank you, and I'll yield. Mr. Van Drew. I thank the Ranking Member, and that concludes today's hearing. We thank our witnesses for appearing before the Subcommittee today, and I mean that. It's a lot of work to sit here, hear us all talk. Thank you. Appreciate you. Without objection, all Members will have five legislative days to submit additional written questions for the witnesses or additional materials for the record. Without objection, this hearing is adjourned. [Whereupon, at 3:46 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] All materials submitted for the record by Members of the Subcommittee on Oversight can be found at: https:// docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=119408. [all]