Lauren Barbato is a writer and Temple University religion PhD candidate based in New Jersey.
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Outside Delaney Hall, Catholics Pray Rosary With Detainee Letters
In New Jersey on Saturday, Catholic activists gathered near the front gates of Delaney Hall to pray the rosary in solidarity with those detained in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.
It was the latest act of Catholic witness at Delaney Hall, where several hundred detainees initiated a hunger and labor strike in May to protest the facility’s inhumane conditions. Outside the facility, ICE agents deployed pepper spray and shoved protesters into the street, leading to the deployment of state police, the establishment of protest perimeters and curfews, and dozens of arrests While those measures have been lifted, the situation within and outside Delaney Hall remains in flux, with mutual aid organizers—including many people of faith—adapting daily to support the families of those detained.
On June 13, about 50 people gathered to pray near a colorful chalk drawing of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Catholic sisters distributed rosaries outside the “radical hospitality tent,” where mutual aid organizers once provided food and toys to families visiting those detained inside before the facility instituted “draconian” rules to dissuade visitations. Now there were no families, and few protesters or news cameras in sight.