By JAIMIE JULIA WINTERS Community Sentinel RUTHERFORD, NJ — When Martin Soto left his Kearny, New Jersey home on a February evening to buy diapers at a nearby store, his wife Gabriela expected him back within half an hour. Instead, the errand changed both of their lives. “The store was only about a half-hour away, so when he didn’t come home after an hour, I started texting and calling. Then another hour passed, and I got really worried,” Gabriela Soto recalled. After more than five agonizing hours, her phone finally rang at 11:30 p.m. Martin told her he had been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and was being held at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. At the time, Gabriela’s focus was to bring her husband home. Four months later, standing outside Delaney Hall among protesters, elected officials, clergy members, and families of detainees, Gabriela has become one of the most recognizable voices in a growing movement challenging conditions inside the facility and advocating for immigrant detainees across New Jersey. “That’s when I knew this was bigger than my husband,” Gabriela said of the Memorial Day protests that erupted after a food and labor strike by the 300 detainees. “I had to fight for the others that were in Delaney Hall and immigrants everywhere.” The responsibility was not one Gabriela really sought. The couple met in Peru while Gabriela, a U.S. citizen, was visiting family. They maintained a long-distance relationship and had a daughter together. Martin, wanting to be with his daughter, entered the U.S. in late 2023. He was immediately but briefly detained by immigration authorities and then released with an immigration court date scheduled for 2028, Gabriela said. After his release, the couple married, settled in New Jersey, and welcomed a son. Gabriela is now pregnant with their third child. “He came to this country with a purpose,” she said. “He came here to raise his daughter and be a father to his son. He came here to make a life with me and our children.” According to Gabriela, the family believed they had time to begin the immigration process because Martin’s next court hearing was years away. They planned to hire an immigration attorney after filing their taxes this year. Instead, Martin has been in an ICE detention center for four months. Gabriela suddenly found herself juggling two jobs, raising two young children alone, preparing for a third baby, visiting Delaney Hall several times a week, and navigating a more complex immigration system she never expected to confront. ‘We aren’t animals’ Her husband’s detention still seems unfathomable to her. The system that has kept her husband detained for four months, hearing after hearing, with no end in sight, is impenetrable, she says. Martin is far from a dangerous criminal. He is a father and works at a pizza parlor, she said. “He is responsible, and he’s a good person. He has a big heart,” Gabriela said. Initially, her advocacy was focused solely on her husband. She launched a GoFundMe campaign, with $48,843 raised to date, spoke with reporters, organized support from family and friends, and worked to secure legal representation. Martin’s employer wrote a letter supporting his release, as did leaders from the family’s church. Martin Soto is shown with his two children on a GoFundMe photo page. The page is raising funds to help with legal fees associated with his detainment at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. But during countless visits to Delaney Hall, Gabriela began hearing stories from other detainees and their families. She met mothers separated from their children, men who had spent months in detention despite having no criminal record, and families struggling to understand why loved ones remained behind bars. Then conditions inside the facility became impossible to ignore. On May 17, according to Gabriela, detainees in Martin’s housing unit were served food containing worms. “That was enough,” she said. “They had been served chunky milk, moldy food, but this was too much. Everyone there was disgusted. They said, ‘We aren’t animals. You can’t give us this to eat.’” The incident sparked a hunger and labor strike among detainees, including many who had already been complaining about inadequate food, medical care, and living conditions. A letter posted by the immigration advocacy group, Cosecha, written by the detainees, not only demanded better conditions, but also their freedom, stating they feel kidnapped. Soon afterward, Gabriela found herself organizing rallies outside Delaney Hall and speaking publicly about conditions inside the center. Her purpose became a broader movement. The turning point came over Memorial Day weekend. Gabriela said Martin was told he would be released. Guards returned his belongings and instructed him to change into street clothes. Instead, she said, he was handcuffed and loaded into a van. When she arrived at Delaney Hall, she was detained inside and warned to stop the protests or her visitations with her husband would stop. When she realized he was being transferred rather than released, she stood in front of the vehicle blocking the way, she said. “Standing in front of that van that was trying to take my husband away, standing my ground, I grew stronger,” Gabriela said. As the protesters realized that Martin was being transferred, they joined Gabriela and formed a blockade across the facility’s gates as detainees watched from windows inside. The demonstration grew into an overnight vigil that drew members of Congress, New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim (D–NJ), and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill. As the protest grew in numbers, federal agents deployed pepper spray, and visitation inside the facility was suspended. By the time Rep. Rob Menendez (D–N.J.) was finally granted access to the facility on Memorial Day, 18 hours after arriving, Martin had already been secretly transferred to the Elizabeth Detention Center. “The reality is that no one here has a criminal record. No one here should be in detention,” Menendez said outside of Delaney Hall on May 25. “These are mothers and fathers and 18-year-olds. And it runs counter to what this administration is selling to the American people since day one — that they are going after the worst of the worst. You have a woman who gave birth a few months ago who can’t nurse her child because she’s in there. That’s not the worst of the worst. There’s a pastor from Elizabeth. That’s not the worst of the worst.” Activism turns them into targets Now, Gabriela believes both she and her husband were targeted because of their activism. “The hunger strike was a unified effort. They were all disgusted, as they should be,” Gabriela said. She said things had gotten much worse for the detainees and their families since the hunger strike was launched, and the protests grew. “They are tormenting them. They are trying to break down [the detainees’] solidarity. They are trying to break the families, supporters, and protestors’ solidarity. They are tear-gassing and beating people up. They are trying to break our ground,” Gabriela said. She said Martin now has bruises on his wrists, ankles, and arms, along with a facial laceration. She alleges the transfer and subsequent lockdown were retaliatory measures linked to the hunger strike and growing protests. Even with Martin transferred, the protests continue outside Delaney Hall. Officials continue to visit the facility to see firsthand the conditions inside the center. Federal officials have rejected allegations of mistreatment at Delaney Hall, saying the facility complies with ICE detention standards. The GEO Group, the private company that operates the Newark detention center, did not respond to a May 29 email from Community Sentinel seeking comment. In response to questions from Community Sentinel, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided a statement from Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis, who accused “sanctuary politicians” of spreading misinformation about conditions at Delaney Hall and said their criticism was fueling unrest. “Those sanctuary politicians need to stop the political theater,” Bis said in the statement. “No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been better treated than illegal aliens. They are provided three meals a day, medical care, and receive full due process.” The Department of Homeland Security responded to a Facebook post by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D–N.Y.), who stated that “Delaney Hall should be shut down” after he visited the center on May 31. DHS’s response: “This is a detention center — we do not provide luxury accommodations. What we do provide are basic necessities like beds, clean water, comprehensive healthcare, and 3 meals a day until they go HOME.” On June 2, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport filed a lawsuit against The GEO Group, Inc., requesting that the court grant the New Jersey Department of Health full access to the facility to follow up on “well-documented concerns about inhumane and unsanitary conditions for detainees,” according to a press release issued by the governor’s office. The Sotos’ attorney, Alexandra Minogue, has filed an emergency petition for Martin’s release, stating his detention serves no purpose and has become punitive. The motion argues ICE is retaliating against Soto and his wife for their outspoken criticism of conditions inside the facility. “At this point, petitioner’s detention no longer resembles ordinary civil immigration custody,” the filing argues. ‘They deserve to be heard’ As the attorney works to get Martin released, Gabriela now speaks not only about her husband’s detention but also about the stories she has heard from detainees throughout the facility about the mistreatment and the lack of due process. People, she says, deserve due process, dignity, and the opportunity to be heard. “They deserve more than a one-to-five-minute immigration hearing,” she said. “My dream is that they are heard and then freed. But even if they get deported, fine. Give them the chance to be heard. Listen to them.” Sen. Andy Kim, who was pepper sprayed by federal agents on Memorial Day while putting himself between the federal agents’ vehicle and protesters, describes the human side of the detainees inside Delaney Hall: pregnant women not getting prenatal care, a stage three cancer patient who was given months to live and just wants to be home with his family to die, an 18-year-old who should be going to prom and graduating high school. Embed from Getty Images U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D–NJ) tries to broker a de-escalation between ICE agents and immigration activists outside of ICE Delaney Hall Detention Center. Newark, New Jersey. May 25, 2026. “These are the so-called violent criminals,” he said, noting the billion-dollar contract that The GEO Group has to run the facility should fund much better care for the detainees. “They deserve dignity and decency,” Kim said. In a statement from the DHS Office of Public Affairs, sent to Community Sentinel, stated that no individual was “directly struck by pepper ball projectiles.” On May 25, 2026, “our law enforcement followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property,” it states. Clashes lead to curfew After a night of clashes outside Delaney Hall on May 30, Gov. Sherrill — who had been denied access to the facility on Memorial Day — held a press briefing. She noted that demonstrations outside the detention center had remained peaceful for months, but said tensions escalated when ICE increased its presence at the site, prompting her decision to deploy state police. “We’ve seen what has happened with ICE across the country. I won’t let that unfold here,” Sherrill said. She also announced that, beginning May 31, a nightly curfew would be imposed within a half-mile radius of the facility from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. For Martin Soto and the other detainees at Delaney Hall, the growing attention has not yet resulted in freedom. But the protests, hunger strike, and public outcry have brought unprecedented scrutiny to conditions inside the facility and increased pressure on officials to respond. The heightened attention has already produced some changes, including the restoration of family visitation rights. Still, Sherrill acknowledged that significant concerns remain. “We’re maintaining our laser focus on pushing for better conditions and transparency,” she said. “There’s much more to do.” As Gabriela balances construction and landscaping jobs, raises two children, prepares for the birth of a third, and spends hours traveling to detention centers to visit her husband, she says she has discovered a bigger purpose. She challenges Americans to ask themselves what will truly make America great again. “What does a great America look like? Immigrants are what make America great. They come here for the American dream, but immigrants are the American dream,” Gabriela said. What began as a wife’s effort to bring her husband home has become a campaign to amplify the voices of hundreds of immigrant detainees she believes have been forgotten. “The number one thing they need and deserve is to be heard,” she said.