'Imagine what’s happening behind closed doors': Adelita Grijalva blasts ICE over Andy Kim incident

Rep. Adelita Grijalva hit out at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Tuesday for pepper-spraying an elected U.S. Senator. Grijalva shared a post on X that showed Sen. Andy Kim getting treatment after being pepper-sprayed by ICE agents. Kim was at the detention facility at Delaney Hall, which has been the center of major protests in the last few days, as questions have been asked about the condition of the detainees.

"If ICE is willing to use force against elected officials and protestors asking questions, imagine what's happening behind closed doors to everyone else," Grijalva wrote. She further added that she was in support of the Delaney Hall facility shutting down and accountability for those involved in the alleged misbehavior against detainees. Protestors clashed with ICE agents outside the facility on Tuesday due to inedible food and poor access to medical facilities, as per a report in NBC. It also states that the detainees had gone on a hunger strike.

The Nova Law Group represents dozens of such detainees, and the managing attorney of the company, Selenia Destefani, claimed that her clients were served expired food and meals with worms in them. As of early April, nearly 900 detainees are being held at the facility. However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quickly responded to the protests, claiming that there was no hunger strike at Delaney Hall.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin denied claims of a hunger strike in a media interaction alongside President Donald Trump. "There was only a handful of individuals who were refusing to eat because they wanted their ethnic food," he said. "Well, they go back to the country and get whatever food they want. The fact is, we're giving them the calories they want. This isn't Holiday Inn."

Mullin also criticized the Democrats for making this a bigger issue than it was. However, that has not stopped the Trump administration's political rivals from criticizing the conditions at the New Jersey detention facility. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker said that he had visited Delaney Hall and claimed that the detention facility was a "moral stain on our community."

"I'll keep demanding this facility be closed now and to end this administration's chaotic and cruel immigration policy. I will not vote to give another dollar to ICE," he wrote on X. Sen. Kim said that he was able to get into the facility after being denied the first time in a recent interview with CNN. "Yesterday, I talked to a man who has stage three lung cancer who's not getting the medical care that he needs," Kim said.

"But beyond just the conditions, they were also saying that they're not able to get their day in court. Many of them have been stuck there for eight months, 10 months, 12 months, at the cost to the American people…it shows just how broken, and how much a farce of a system it is when they get no more than five minutes maximum to be able to make their case," Kim added.