Martin Soto, Organizer of Delaney Hall Hunger Strike, Released After 8 Months
Por Shireen Akram-Boshar — Truthout
Soto was abducted by ICE in February while buying diapers for his 11-month-old son.
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Martin Soto, who helped lead a hunger strike at Delaney Hall immigration jail in Newark, New Jersey, earlier this year, was released from detention with an ankle monitor on Tuesday evening.
Martin was released after U.S. District Court Judge Jamel Semper ruled that his detention was illegal, citing the conditions of his confinement, his deteriorating mental health, and lack of sufficient reason to continue his detention.
Martin was abducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while buying diapers for his 11-month-old son in February, and was central to organizing the hunger strike at Delaney Hall that began in May. The strike lasted for a month and put a national spotlight on the inhumane conditions at the for-profit immigration jail — including medical neglect, deprivation of legal counsel, and coerced deportation of people being detained.
Martin faced retaliation at the ICE detention center almost immediately.
From the first day of the hunger strike, Martin’s wife, Gabriela Soto, protested outside of Delaney Hall with other family members of hunger striking detainees, translating calls from Martin and others inside who described the conditions they were facing. Guards at Delaney retaliated by cutting phone access for those detained.
ICE agents and staff at Delaney Hall reportedly singled out Martin as the leader of the strike on the first day, asking him, “If we release you right now, will you tell your wife to stop the protest outside?”
ICE agents then transferred Martin from Delaney to New Jersey’s Elizabeth Detention Center in an attempt to crush the hunger strike. But instead of stopping the hunger strike, his transfer led to sustained mass protests outside of Delaney Hall. Activists attempted to block his transfer by forming a blockade, which led to daily protests as well as clashes with ICE followed by the state police.
During the protests, Gabriela regularly spoke about the squalid conditions at Delaney Hall, where three immigrants have died since it was reopened as a detention center run by GEO Group in May 2025. More than 50 people have died in ICE custody across the U.S. throughout President Donald Trump’s second term.
In an article for Truthout, Gabriela wrote that she “learned about the abuses firsthand. Martin told me that in May, all detainees in Unit 2 were fed food infested with worms, and when they refused to eat the worm-ridden food, the guards told them either eat or you will starve until the next day.”
“Meanwhile, when Martin got sick, he would go three or four weeks without getting seen, much less treated.”
After his transfer to Elizabeth Detention Center, Martin was held in solitary confinement for four months, from mid-May to mid-September. During this time, Gabriela experienced a miscarriage, which she says was due to the stress of her husband being detained.
In late June, ICE transferred the hunger strikers out of Delaney Hall en masse — forcibly moving some 200 of the 300 hunger strikers and effectively ending the strike.
But the hunger strike and solidarity protests, as well as Gabriela’s continued agitation, eventually led to Martin’s release — though he remains in an ankle monitor pending the outcome of his immigration case.
“I am so thankful for everybody that has helped me,” Gabriela said in a comment after Martin’s release. “These months have been very, very difficult. Not only did I lose our home, not only did I lose our child, but it made me — this experience made me stronger to keep fighting to have the reunitement of our family.”
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Shireen Akram-Boshar is a socialist writer, editor and Middle East/North Africa solidarity activist.
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Fonte: Truthout
