NEWARK, N.J. (CN) - Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Tuesday teased legal action against Delaney Hall, a controversial U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey rife with accusations of detainee mistreatment, that could force the building's closure.

The city sued the GEO Group, the private company that oversees Delaney Hall, over its scrutinized living conditions last year. Inmates say the food is maggot-infested and they don't receive proper healthcare. Baraka said at least one detainee had a miscarriage while inside. 

"The reports of detainees suffering miscarriages, receiving inadequate medical care, psychological abuse is troubling," Baraka told reporters Tuesday at a press conference. "Which forces us now to expand ... our lawsuit against Delaney Hall."

Baraka is seeking to have Delaney Hall shuttered, saying the facility "has no real grounds to be open and should be closed." 

Inmates at the facility launched an internal hunger and labor strike in May, prompting protesters to flock to Delaney Hall in support of the strikers inside. Since then, federal and local law enforcement has engaged in violent clashes with protesters and made numerous arrests. 

Delaney Hall is privately operated, which Baraka said should subject the facility to state and local laws. Despite that, he claimed the state's health department has been denied access to inspect it.

"GEO is a private company who is hiding under the auspice of a contract they have with the federal government. The federal government has no employees that work there," Baraka said. "They cannot be shielded by a contract that they have with Homeland Security, which is what they're trying to do over and over again with our case."

Newark Business Administrator Eric Pennington, joining Baraka at Tuesday's presser, said he asked the GEO Group as recently as Monday evening for access to the facility to investigate the treatment of detainees. 

"If they don't allow us in, we, along with partners who are out here to protect the individuals inside, they will join our lawsuit to seek to have ... this facility shut down until it can be inspected and ensured that it is safe for the individuals who are in there," Pennington said. "We are awaiting the GEO Group's response now and we expect to go to the court within the next day or two to continue the existing lawsuit." 

U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper, a Joe Biden appointee, is presiding over the city's lawsuit against the GEO Group. As it stands, the case has a court-appointed mediator, and the parties have been directed to complete mediation by June 15 barring further intervention from the city. 

Trump administration officials, including fresh DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, have denied the mistreatment of Delaney Hall detainees. Mullin told reporters last week that just a "handful of individuals" were refusing to eat because they wanted their "ethnic right food."

"Well they can go back to their country and get whatever food they want," he said. "The fact is, we're giving them the calories they want. This isn't Holiday Inn."

As tensions rise between protesters and law enforcement outside of the facility - videos have captured federal officers using tear gas and batons on demonstrators - Baraka announced Monday night that the Newark Police Department will be taking a bigger role in policing the protests. He criticized the tactics of the federal officers as "overly aggressive, unnecessary and in some instances unconstitutional."

"The city of Newark sees protests all the time and we have our own way of policing based on community relationships, the integrity of protestors and upholding personal freedoms," he said in a statement. "It takes all of us to stand against the injustices of the GEO Group and ICE and the plight of innocent people incarcerated at Delaney Hall."

Baraka was arrested outside the facility last May after visiting the detention center with members of Congress to inspect the treatment of detainees there. According to Baraka, he was allowed by a Delaney Hall official to enter the property to wait for Congress members while they inspected inside, only to later be accosted by a DHS agent and eventually arrested on trespassing charges.

Those charges didn't hold up in court. A magistrate judge quickly tossed them and chided the federal government for bringing the flimsy case in the first place. Baraka has since sued the federal prosecutor's office in New Jersey, then helmed by Alina Habba, claiming false arrest, malicious prosecution and defamation.

Source: Courthouse News Service