MS NOW Omits Violent History of Illegal Alien at Delaney Hall Facility

On Tuesday morning's MS NOW Reports, host Antonia Hylton ignored the criminal history of an illegal alien held at the Delaney Hall detention facility while hyping anti-ICE criticism from the family of the woman the building was named after.

After beginning the segment by recalling claims by Democrats about allegedly inhumane conditions at the detention center n Newark, New Jersey, Hylton related that the building is named after Geraldine Owen Delaney, who worked to treat alcohol addictions. Here's Hylton:

It's all a far cry from what the facility was intended to be when it opened 26 years ago as a halfway house for the rehabilitation of low-level offenders. Its name is meant to commemorate Geraldine Owen Delaney, a trailblazer in the field of alcohol and drug treatment. But it's this current iteration as a privately run, for-profit detention site that has led the Delaney family to call for its closure. They say what's happening at Delaney hall is the antithesis of what Geraldine stood for.

The MS NOW host brought aboard Marianne Delaney -- the niece of Geraldine Dalaney -- and began by asking her guest what her aunt's reaction to current activity at the detention center if she were still alive, leading her guest to declare that her aunt would be "horrified."

Hylton followed up by raising the case of an illegal alien, Victor Fabian Lansa Saca, whose family is complaining about his detention:

JAYDEN, SON OF DELANEY DETAINEE: He was a good father to me. He was a good father to all of us three, and a good husband to my -- to my mom because he always helped around the house. He was the key to our family.

KAYLA, DAUGHTER OF DELANEY DETAINEE: Everything in his life -- everything has not been the same... (editing jump) Just because he got detained, he will be missing my birthday. We missed his birthday. He celebrated his birthday in there. He's going birthday in there. He's going to miss my little brother's birthday and my mom's birthday. And it's just really sad for my whole family.

After playing clips of two of his children complaining about their father's absence, Hylton posed: "What's it like for you to hear that?"

It was not mentioned that, according to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Victor Fabian Lansa Saca was "arrested by the Westfield, NJ, police for assault, assault by automobile, and leaving the scene of an accident." He was also convicted of assault.

Without any mention of that criminal record, Delaney responded by claiming that the Trump administration has tried to turn Americans against immigrants, and gave a list of demands for how she would like to see detainees treated differently.

Transcript follows:

MS NOW Reports

June 16, 2026

11:49 a.m. Eastern

ANTONIA HYLTON: For months now, one of the most potent symbols of the fight over President Trump's mass deportation crackdown has been a detention center called Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. There have been intense protests and confrontations outside the ICE facility, where the loved ones of people detained inside allege they're being subjected to worm- and maggot-filled food, dirty water, filthy living quarters and medical neglect. The few lawmakers allowed to visit have confirmed the inhumane conditions.

It's all a far cry from what the facility was intended to be when it opened 26 years ago as a halfway house for the rehabilitation of low-level offenders. Its name is meant to commemorate Geraldine Owen Delaney, a trailblazer in the field of alcohol and drug treatment. But it's this current iteration as a privately run, for profit detention site that has led the Delaney family to call for its closure. They say what's happening at Delaney Hall is the antithesis of what Geraldine stood for.

I'm going to bring into the conversation a member of that family, Geraldine's niece, Marianne Delaney. It's great to have you here this morning, Marianne. I want to begin with what you think your aunt would say -- what she would make of what Delaney Hall has become.

MARIANNE DELANEY, NIECE OF GERALDINE DELANEY: I think Geraldine would be horrified. She was all about recovery and healing and giving people a second chance in life. She saved lives. She spent 50 years working as a pioneer in addiction and alcohol treatment, and she is known and renowned globally for her work. She had a passionate love for alcoholics and their suffering because she had been there herself, and she knew what treatment was needed to save people.

This is what she intended for Delaney Hall. It was her dream. It actually wasn't open until two years after her death, but it was her dream and intention to have a rehab for low-level offenders, many of whom were suffering addiction and alcoholism. It was intended as a 250-bed facility to do good, to save people's lives, not to be a warehouse for human despair, which it appears to have turned into.

HYLTON: It's now holding more than double the 250 number that you just mentioned, and the popular children's educator and Youtuber, Ms. Rachel, she recently went to Delaney Hall -- or outside the hall because they're not allowing people really to visit the inside -- and she had the chance to speak with the children of a man who's detained there. He's been in the U.S., they say, for 20 years. His name is Victor Fabian Lansa Saca, and I want you to take a listen to some of what his children said.

JAYDEN, SON OF DELANEY DETAINEE: He was a good father to me. He was a good father to all of us three, and a good husband to my -- to my mom because he always helped around the house. He was the key to our family.

KAYLA, DAUGHTER OF DELANEY DETAINEE: Everything in his life -- everything has not been the same. (editing jump) Just because he got detained, he will be missing my birthday. We missed his birthday. He celebrated his birthday in there. He's going birthday in there. He's going to miss my little brother's birthday and my mom's birthday. And it's just really sad for my whole family.

HYLTON: What's it like for you to hear that?

DELANEY: Well, it just reminds me that this administration has tried to turn this into us and them, and it is not us and them. It is we in communities across this country -- people have integrated with their immigrant community, and they are our families -- they are our coworkers -- they are our children's playmates and classmates and teammates. The immigrant families that I have worked with in my volunteer work are loving, decent, hard working families who are contributing enormously to our communities, not only economically, but on a human level.

They are enriching life in America, just as every generation of immigrants, including my own immigrant forebears, and the demonization of these immigrant families and -- and the -- the horror of -- of what that family is experiencing right now -- the fear and the -- and the sorrow is just unforgivable. It's the antithesis of everything my aunt stood for. And to see our family name on a facility that is housing their dad breaks my heart.

HYLTON: Our viewers can see it up on the screen there, but I wonder if you can talk me through the changes that you and your family would like to see right now.

DELANEY: Yes. Ending the cruelty and inhumanity and the inhumane conditions. These are the -- I am referring to the individuals held at Delaney Hall, and then what they have reported and demanded. That's the most important thing. Stop the coercion of people having to sign deportation documents; the failure to adhere to due process; and due process review of immigration cases before a judge to release the vulnerable people detained at Delaney Hall, including children, the elderly and those with serious medical conditions. The -- the people held there want to meet with Governor Mikie Sherrill inside the facility in person, and they are dealing with a lack of food, spoiled food, medical, inadequate medical attention, but mainly the denial of due process. This being forced to sign deportation documents is un-American, anti-American, and illegal.

HYLTON: I know that the governor hopes that she is going to be able to visit. Some officials have been turned away in their attempts to do full inspections, and there is even a lawsuit over that exact thing. Mary Ann Delaney, thank you so much for sharing some of your family's story and for speaking out.