The anti-ICE hunger strike story at Delaney Hall just ran into a numbers problem.
Fox News Digital reported Saturday that commissary revenue at the Newark ICE detention facility nearly tripled during the same period activists and Democratic lawmakers were pointing to an alleged hunger strike.
On May 26, Delaney Hall housed 724 individuals and recorded $11,498 in commissary revenue for the prior week.
By June 1, the population had dropped to 621, but weekly commissary sales topped $30,000.
That means the facility had fewer detainees, while the commissary was taking in far more money.
DHS told Fox the claims were a “hoax,” and the department pointed to the revenue data as evidence that the narrative was not matching the behavior inside the facility.
The same fight has already spilled outside Delaney Hall.
DHS posted Saturday that an ICE officer was punched while officers were trying to clear roadblocks placed by anti-ICE agitators:
While ICE law enforcement officers attempted to clear roadblocks anti-ICE rioters placed in front of Delaney Hall, an ICE law enforcement officer was punched in the face by an anti-ICE agitator. Assaulting law enforcement is a crime and felony. @SecMullinDHS has been clear: if… https://t.co/ePc5zmplQG
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 6, 2026
That is what makes the commissary data more than a small facility-management detail.
The claim was being used to paint ICE as abusive and to justify another round of outrage around President Trump’s immigration enforcement push.
The DHS statement, reprinted by Homeland Security Today, previously answered several Delaney Hall claims this way:
Another day, another hoax about ICE detention facilities. Sanctuary politicians are spreading categorically false smears about ICE’s Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey.
These types of smears are inciting violent riots outside the ICE facility in New Jersey.
These sanctuary politicians need to stop with the political theatre. No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been better treated than illegal aliens.
ADVERTISEMENTThey are provided 3 meals a day, medical care, and receive full due process.
CLAIM: There is a lack of medical care for illegal aliens detained at Delaney.
FACT: It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.
For many illegal aliens, this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.
CLAIM: There is an ongoing hunger strike among the inmates at Delaney.
FACT: There is no hunger strike at Delaney Hall. All detainees are provided with 3 meals a day.
Meals are certified by dieticians.
Fox reported that Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Andy Kim, Rep. Robert Menendez Jr., and Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman, had echoed or amplified concerns tied to the alleged strike and conditions at the facility.
Those claims now face a simple question.
If a broad hunger strike was really rippling through Delaney Hall, why did commissary revenue surge while the population fell?
DHS says the answer is obvious: some detainees were skipping scheduled meals while still buying snacks and other commissary items.
That does not look like the sweeping humanitarian crisis activists were selling.
It looks like another anti-ICE narrative that got very loud before the numbers caught up.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
