When immigration officers came for Margarita Cielo Balbuena, they brought along pepper spray, and threw her husband, recovering from surgery, on the ground. Then they detained her for two months in the Elizabeth Detention Center, refusing to provide the diabetes medication she needed until federal lawmakers intervened.
“Even now, I feel traumatized,” she said through an interpreter, her voice breaking. “I’m afraid to drive. I’m afraid to leave and go out in the street. I’m afraid to be away from my children.”
The Dover resident, who said she has lived in the U.S. since 1989, told her story Tuesday in a Morristown church alongside other immigrant families at a roundtable with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) and other lawmakers.
They had been brought together by freshman Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-Glen Ridge), one of the most outspoken critics of the privately run Delaney Hall, where three detainees already have died. Relatives of two of those who died there, Jean Wilson Brutus and Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, also were among those participating.
“We need to give voice to what is occurring,” Mejia said afterwards at a press conference outside the Calvary Baptist Churchwith Cielo Balbuena, Jeffries, and Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City). “We create accountability.”
At the press conference, Cielo Balbuena talked about the rancid chicken and spoiled milk at the detention center. “It’s very difficult for me to speak,” she said. “No human being should suffer what I had suffered.”
The lawmakers talked about President Donald Trump’s massive roundup of immigrants, legal or not, and the facilities the administration is housing them in, most notably Delaney Hall, as Jeffries promised to work to overhaul immigration policies should Democrats win control of the U.S. House in November.
“Taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the people of this community, this state and throughout our country,” Jeffries said. “Instead, taxpayer dollars are being used by ICE and Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine to brutalize and kill American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families.
The White House pushed back.
“These types of smears by sanctuary politicians are contributing to our ICE law enforcement officers facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said. “Our ICE officers are heroes who put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from American communities. Democrats must stop demonizing our officers for simply enforcing our nation’s laws.”
Lawmakers took turns criticizing the treatment of detainees, citing rancid food, unsanitary living conditions and a lack of adequate medical care, including at Delaney Hall. Last week, Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced a civil rights investigation into the facility.
“Delaney Hall needs to be shut down,” Jeffries said. “That will remain a high priority for us until it takes place.”
He accused the Trump administration of not fulfilling its promise to round up “the worst of the worst” in the U.S. illegally but rather using Immigration and Customs Enforcement to target business owners, job creators and other law-abiding residents.
“The behavior that ICE is engaging in is inconsistent with our values and what America should represent,” Jeffries said.
Menendez also decried the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants. Trump stepped up enforcement once he returned to the White House in 2025. He received the votes of 46% of Latinos, including 54% of Latino men, in winning a second term, according to network exit polls.
“This administration has used a broken immigration system to enact inhumane immigration enforcement,” Menendez said. “That cannot be the future of this country.”
Before leaving New Jersey, Jeffries was to join Mejia at a West Caldwell fundraiser for the freshman Democrat, where tickets ranged from $500 to $3,500, the maximum individual donation to a candidate for the general election, according to an invitation obtained by the Globe. Sponsors included Parimal Garg, who served as chief counsel to then-Gov. Phil Murphy; Garg’s wife Briana Earle — they hosted Jeffries and Mejia in their home — state Democratic Chair Leroy Jones Jr., and Democratic National Committeewoman Marcia Marley.
