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.

Sisters Susan Francois, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, and Bethany J. Welch, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia, organized the prayer around the group’s support for universal human dignity.

“The power of Mary called us here,” Francois told Sojourners, referring to the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary taking place that day. “We got 50 people here of different backgrounds. We’re not all on the same page. Not everyone’s been here [before], but as Catholics, we’re universal—and that universality is the gospel.”

Through most of the rosary service, an alarm blared from inside the detention center’s gates. Afterward, Francois said that the alarm symbolized the “disorganization” of GEO Group, the private prison company that operates Delaney Hall under a $1 billion contract with ICE. She added that those inside experience such disturbances daily.

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Francois and Welch said they believe the ongoing strike is impacting the corporate model of the for-profit facility, where detainees allege they’re forced to work for either no pay or $1 an hour. Welch added that many are frustrated with the “inactivity” of political officials. Inspired by Pope Leo XIV and his “torrent of moral energy,” she said people are “putting both bodies and physical presence on the line, as well as their various prayer and spiritual practices, to try to break through” governmental systems.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace have been organizing alongside Pax Christi New Jersey, the local chapter of the international Catholic nonviolence organization that has long served on the front lines of antiwar activism. Both groups belong to Eyes on ICE NJ, a coalition of faith groups, immigrant rights groups, peace and justice organizations, and labor groups organizing at Delaney Hall over the past year. Keeping in line with the coalition’s interfaith spirit, the sisters distributed pamphlets Saturday with guidance on how to pray the rosary.

The rosary holds deep significance for the Catholic community at Delaney Hall. Men detained inside maintain a strong devotion to the rosary, praying collectively each evening. Before the rosary service began, Francois told worshippers that Father Alex Gaitan, who leads the Archdiocese of Newark’s Immigration Ministry, relayed to the men that supporters would be praying the rosary for them that Saturday.

Sorrowful mysteries from inside Delaney Hall

Catholics begin each decade of the rosary—a unit of prayers that begins with an Our Father, followed by 10 Hail Marys, and generally concludes with a Glory Be—with a meditation on a scripture passage relating to the mysteries of the faith. For this prayer service, the sisters chose the Sorrowful Mysteries. Instead of using scripture, for each of the rosary’s five decades, they adapted excerpts from the five letters smuggled out of Delaney Hall since January.

The first letter, “El Grito de Nosotros” (“Our Cry”), sought “to raise awareness of what has been happening here: the lack of medical care and due process,” Francois said. The first two letters from detainees garnered little attention from media or political officials. On May 22, family members held a press conference at the radical hospitality tent, describing their loved ones’ circumstances and announcing the hunger and labor strike. A third letter from May 26 further established the detainees’ demands.

During Saturday’s rosary, a Sister of St. Joseph began the second decade with the most recently released letter—and the first to come from women detained. The letter, dated May 22, provided a detailed account of the women’s immigration circumstances and the mental and physical impacts of their imprisonment, which they contend is unlawful in most cases. The letter also alleges that some have been subjected to sexual assault by a guard who “gropes them during a food search and leers at them.”

“The confinement is hurting us because it has inflicted wounds upon the heart of every detainee, wounds of hopelessness and fear,” the letter states.

Welch pointed out that sexual violence against women at detention centers is not uncommon, often used as a form of control or quid pro quo, particularly at family detention centers where women seek to protect their children. Numerous ICE facilities across the country have been scrutinized for the scale of abuse allegations and reports that authorities poorly investigated those allegations.

The conditions inside Delaney Hall, as described in the detainees’ letters, continue to unfold alongside broader disruptions to visitation hours and mutual aid efforts. On any given Saturday before Memorial Day weekend, the radical hospitality tent would support up to 500 people, Francois said. Some traveled hours for their one-hour visitation slot allotted by GEO. However, clashes between ICE agents and protesters escalated during the first week of the hunger and labor strike. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill responded by designating “First Amendment zones” and dispatching state law enforcement to disperse protesters—with police using flash bangs, deploying tear gas, and making dozens of arrests.

On May 31, state police established a temporary half-mile perimeter around Delaney Hall, which displaced Pax Christi New Jersey and its coalition partners from the radical hospitality tent. Kathy O’Leary, regional coordinator of Pax Christi New Jersey, told Sojourners that federal agents searched and “trashed” the tent.

Gospel accompaniment

In response to the violence, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark gathered with 30 Catholics on May 31 at a FedEx distribution center outside the Delaney Hall checkpoints. There, the group prayed a bilingual rosary.

Matea Korsa, a candidate with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, attended that prayer service. She remembers growing emotional when she saw Tobin stepping aside to console and pray over a woman whose husband is detained at Delaney Hall.

“You don’t see that [on the news],” Korsa told Sojourners. “Everyone’s showing what’s going on at the protests versus what the families are going through.”

Originally from Ohio, Korsa saw in her own life how the protests and widespread media attention raised awareness nationwide. However, the focus “needs to be more on people being there for each other, not fighting ICE on the news.”

Although the half-mile perimeter has been lifted, and Pax Christi New Jersey reestablished their tent, organizers now minister to families at a secured off-site location. Many family members of detained individuals are still too afraid to visit in person, Francois says. GEO Group also restricts or cancels visitation hours, and members of the Eyes on ICE coalition claim people continue to be transferred to detention centers out of state.

The sisters say their goal is to continue supporting the families of those detained, whether through helping them locate loved ones, distributing funds, or maintaining prayerful witness outside. Welch brought two sisters from her order Saturday, continuing “a long lineage of [Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia] who have shown up and been present with people, accompanying them through the gospel.”

When the rosary concluded, the sisters stayed for another prayer, this time in Spanish, while several volunteers watched Delaney Hall’s entrance for potential transport vans and GEO vehicles.

 “We got 50 people here of different backgrounds. We’re not all on the same page. Not everyone’s been here [before], but as Catholics, we’re universal—and that universality is the gospel.”— Sister Susan Francois