“We Demand Justice”
A letter from the women detained at Delaney Hall, written on the day the hunger and labor strike began
1.
5/22/2026
We are writing this letter from the Delaney Hall detention center, with the intention of requesting help from the authorities due to the injustices we have experienced.
First of all, we apologize for entering the United States illegally and the inconveniences this may cause. We know that some people have come to the United States and caused a lot of harm. We apologize for the immigrants who have not known how to value or respect the laws of this country. Most of us have emigrated to this country because human rights are not respected in our countries. Many of the women who are detained here have been victims of sexual abuse, rape, and persecution in our countries, which forced us to seek a second chance in this country, which we have come to consider our home.
We request help due to the constant violation of our Constitutional and immigration rights, violation of due process. Most of the women detained at this center were illegally detained by ICE.
2.
We were taken at the entrances of our immigration court check-ins, at our jobs, taking our kids to school. Most of the women at this center have social security, tax statements, and were attending their immigration court dates, hoping to win their cases and thus obtain a life of peace and without violence. We believed that by going to court and appearing before ICE, everything would be fine because we are not criminals, but it wasn't like that. ICE arrested us, and during the process, we have been treated like criminals, shackled hand and foot, subjected to excessive force, and subjected to racist insults! The majority is afraid to speak out because they think that denouncing the abuses at the hand of ICE will affect their immigration process.
The processes have been unjust, bonds are denied. Women like ■■■■ ■■■■■ (A■■■■■■■■■), ■■■■ ■■■■■ (A■■■■■■■■■), ■■■■ ■■■■■ (A■■■■■■■■■), and ■■■■ ■■■■■ (A■■■■■■■■■), women who went to all their court dates, who have never committed a crime in their entire lives, and yet they are labeled a flight risk and have been denied their constitutional right according to the Eighth amendment.
■■■■■ has 11 years living in the US, has a valid work permit and two US citizen children. In minutes, Judge Shana Chen gave her an order of removal.
■■■■■■ has been living in the US for 34 years, this is her home, she has four US citizen children, and was also denied bond.
3.
■■■ is a Colombian woman who is the main benefactor of a shelter that helps animals called Refugio Manano, she is a good person who has not committed crimes and is detained here.
Sadly, we also have cases of young adults, including underage, who were in high school, college and university that have a juvenile status and lead normal lives, studying in order to create a better world. Women like ■■■■■ 18 years old, ■■■■■ 18 years old, ■■■■■ 21 years old.
Some women have been detained for too long, waiting for a decision on their Habeas Corpus.
■■■■■ has has been detained for nine months, has a ten year old with heart disease that’s not being treated because her mother cannot renew their health insurance due to being unjustly imprisoned.
■■■■■ married to an American citizen, and has no charges. She has been detained and without a response for 5 months.
■■■■■ has been detained for one year and five months, with a CAT case approved, and ICE tried to send her to the Democratic Republic of Congo illegally.
4.
■■■■■ has been deprived of her freedom for nine months. She suffers from post-traumatic stress because she was a victim of atrocious crimes in her country. She suffered a breakdown because she was sexually assaulted by a worker at the detention center. She was taken away 8 days ago, and her family still knows nothing about her.
■■■■■ is a Cuban woman who managed to escape the regime in her home country. She has a 17-month-old American baby. Her baby cries every night because she misses her mom.
■■■■■ has been detained for three months without any legal process. She has not been given a court hearing, and she has 3 children waiting for her at home. All the pain and suffering that these families have to endure is heartbreaking.
■■■■■ she was detained postpartum. Her baby was two months old when she was arrested and she has been detained for three months. Her family brings her the baby, but he doesn't recognize her.
■■■■■ was two months pregnant and lost her baby in the detention center due to medical malpractice. They erased her record from the system and now they say that her pregnancy was psychological.
5.
■■■■■, her 10 year old son is alone, and is being cared for by one of her friends.
■■■■■ has a daughter with an autoimmune disease. She is only in the United States for the experimental treatment that might be able to save her daughter’s life.
The judges are overwhelmed. The immigration courts are collapsing. Our processes are affected and with them, our rights. People with U visas, T visas, permanent residency, juvenile status, are all trapped without legal justification, illegally arrested by ICE. We are all scared because we have seen how people are being deported without due process. Some are forced to assist their court appointments without an interpreter and are ordered deported without even knowing it. Others are sent to third world countries like Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, and even Africa. They’ve sent people with issues of violence, of gender violence. Africa has a health crisis with an outbreak of yellow fever and ebola. The hospitals they are sending us to in those countries are overwhelmed. We live with fear. We see how they deport us to unsafe countries without thinking about our safety and our lives.
Each one of us pray, we are from different cultures, nationalities, and religions, but at the end of the day we all pray to the same God, help with our process, we pray for our families, for other detainees that we don’t know their names but are here, women that are vulnerable without attorneys, without families, completely alone.
6.
We are all affected by the same crisis that affects all the immigrants. The treatment we received from this center is deplorable from screams, racism, and bad medical attention.
■■■■■■■■ was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which has not been treated. She is living with 63 other detainees, where everyone is at risk of contracting this disease due to the negligence of the doctors and the detention center. We are all afraid for our health. The water we drink is not potable, and the food does not have the necessary nutrients.
They force us to work in cleaning, and if we refuse the officers threaten to take away our tablets, which are our only means of communication with our families. Some women have been victims of sexual assault by a guard who who gropes them during a food search and leers at them.
The pain and fear are taking a physical toll on us, we are losing our hair, some of us are suffering from anxiety attacks, we cannot sleep, and we have no energy for anything. We are depressed from being separated from the people we love.
7.
The confinement is hurting us because it has inflicted wounds upon the heart of every detainee, wounds of hopelessness and fear. We are normal women. We are not criminals. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, we do not deserve the punishment that has been inflicted upon us. It is unjust, cruel and inhumane. We appeal for assistance of any kind to ensure that our cases are reopened. We ask for the release of those suffering from physical and psychological health issues. We specifically request the release of mothers and people who have not committed crimes, so that they may pursue their legal proceedings while free. We further request that the Habeas Corpus petitions be addressed with the utmost urgency, and that immigration laws and the due process be fully respected.
We Demand Justice
This is the fifth letter to be published publicly from inside Delaney Hall, and the first from the women’s unit.
Letter #1: El Grito de Nosotros
Letter #2: SOS
Letter #3: Don’t Give Up
Letter #4: We Demand Freedom
Letter #5: We Demand Justice
These letters not only represent the experiences of those at Delaney Hall, but the experiences of thousands of other immigrants in detention centers across the country.