High school student freed from Delaney Hall
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... An 18-year-old Orange High School student detained for two months at Delaney Hall, the Newark immigration detention center housing hundreds arrested in the Trump administration's deportation efforts, was released Monday, June 1. [2026]
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Ariadna Zumba, a Spanish national, missed her high school prom while being held.
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She was a few months away form graduating from high school when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested her at the Elizabeth Detention Center after she paid a visit to a detained Erica Ruales, told NorthJersey.com in an interview last week. [05/28/2026]
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Ruales had called for her daughter's release outside Delaney Hall, saying she was missing the senior prom, on the day when several hundred detainees went on a hunger and labor strike, protesting unsanitary food and harsh treatment, said a statement from the American Friends Service Committee, which advocates for immigrant rights.
..... Ruales dropped her daughter outside the Elizabeth Detention Center at around 1 PM. on April 9 [2026] to visit a friend who had called to say he was being detained there by ICE agents.
..... At 7 that night, Ruales said, her daughter called her. Guards "patted down "Zumba at the end of her visit and then detained her for allegedly overstaying a visa. "I would like people to know that like so many detained people, my daughter is not a criminal," Ruales told NorthJersey.com .
..... Zumba was transfered to Delaney Hall that afternoon, Ruales said. Zumba has been in the United States since she was 9, her mother said. She was not immediately available for comment after her daughter's release.
..... Dozens of people were arrested outside Dalliance Hall after the city enacted a mandatory curfew, which was ended days later. Protests swelled after detainees staged a hunger and labor strike on May 22 [2026] over alleged poor conditions, including a lack of food, medical neglect and overcrowding.
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Hunger strikers also are calling for fair review of their immigration cases and the release of young, elatedly and ill detainees.
..... Zumba's release followed pressure from House Democrats representing North Jersey districts, said a joint statement on June 2 [2026] from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Representatives Monica McIver, Rob Menendez and Josh Gottheimer.
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"Yesterday [06/04/2026] after months of of advocacy, an 18-year-old high school senior finally returned to her Orange, New Jersey, home after her months-long detainment at the Delaney Hall facility," the statement said. "ON Sunday, [05/31/2026] we had the opportunity to speak with Ariadna, who, even after being subjected to detention for months, remains singularly focused on resuming her high school studies, with an intent to pursue a career in law."
..... Her mother told NorthJersey.com that Zumba had good relationships with the guards inside Delaney Hall. She was providing translation services at the center, Ruales said.
..... "Ariadna is a remarkable young women and a true leader who, among other things, provided translation assistance between detainees, detention facility guards and visitors," the Democrats said in their statement.