After visiting Delaney Hall, a privately operated Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark, New Jersey, Sen. Cory Booker said what’s happening inside the facility is an “atrocity” and an “assault on human dignity.”

The New Jersey Democrat, along with other lawmakers from New Jersey and New York, conducted a congressional oversight visit at the facility on Wednesday.

“There’s just no words to describe the reality that we in America are allowing this to go on in our midst because we have a president that has conducted an immigration policy against all of our basic values and our core sense of decency,” Booker told MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell.

Delaney Hall is operated by Geo Group, one of ICE’s biggest contractors. In 2025, the company signed a 15-year contract valued at about $1 billion with the federal government. The detention center has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks, after reports emerged that detainees were carrying out a hunger strike to protest inhumane conditions.

In a statement, ICE denounced what it called “smears” against Delaney Hall and said all detainees are “provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries.”

Booker took aim at Geo Group directly, calling out the company’s relationship with Republican lawmakers.

“It’s not only a private for-profit prison, but it’s part of the corruption that’s endemic in this administration, because this is a corporation that showered Republicans with money beforehand,” he said.

The Project On Government Oversight reported Wednesday that Geo Group donated $250,000 to a group linked to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs the House Oversight Committee.

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Allison Detzel

Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”