The state of ICE detention and deportation

Protests outside Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention center are continuing and intensifying over conditions inside the privately run ICE facility. A hunger strike by detainees over alleged poor living conditions — spoiled food and inadequate medical care – has prompted demonstrations by activists outside, and clashes with federal immigration agents and New Jersey State Police. Several protesters have been arrested. DHS has disputed that a strike is even occurring and denied the allegations about conditions.

Meanwhile, detainees at Camp East Montana in Texas, which is the largest ICE detention center in the country, have filed a federal lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions. At least three people have died at the facility since it opened in August 2025.

Detention and deportation are central to the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. About 60,000 people are currently held in immigration detention facilities nationwide, and roughly 400,000 have been detained since the administration took office in January 2025. A recent Brookings Institution study estimates that around 145,000 U.S. citizen children have had a parent detained.

This hour, we’re taking a close look at the state of ICE detention and deportation under President Donald Trump and new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. We’ll examine the conditions inside these facilities, questions of due process, the record number of deportations, and the scale of family separations.

Guests:

— Bridget Cambria, immigration attorney and executive director of Aldea – The People’s Justice Center

— Nick Miroff, staff writer for The Atlantic who covers immigration