Here’s how the system to report problems in ICE detention has failed immigrants

Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, NJ on June 3, 2026. An NPR review has found that the grievance system in immigration detention, originally designed as a way to report violations of detention standards, is now barely operational.

Critics say it is the reason why more detainees are risking their lives to protest inhumane conditions and legal rights violations, in the form of widespread hunger strikes.

(Image credit: Lianne Milton for NPR)