Salvadoran detainee dies at New Jersey ICE facility

A 41-year-old Salvadoran man detained at a New Jersey immigration facility died after a medical emergency, becoming the 22nd person to die in ICE custody this year and renewing calls to close Delaney Hall, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday.

Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died Aug. 1 after being taken from Delaney Hall to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. Officials have not announced a cause of death.

ICE said Lopez-Cornejo experienced an unspecified medical emergency at the detention center. According to Al Jazeera, staff from GEO Group, the private contractor that runs the facility, and medical personnel responded and arranged for him to be transported to the hospital. ICE said people in its custody are screened for medical issues within hours of arrival, receive a fuller health check within two weeks and have round-the-clock access to emergency treatment. The agency said Lopez-Cornejo had been properly cared for during his detention.

Lopez-Cornejo first came to the United States in 2006, according to The Guardian. ICE records cited by Al Jazeera say he was detained and deported after crossing into the U.S. without authorization that year, later returned and was arrested again by ICE agents in Plainfield, New Jersey, in mid-June. He was sent to Delaney Hall under an order reviving his earlier deportation case.

His mother, Maria Cornejo, told the New Jersey Monitor that her son had held a job since 2022 and tried to show arresting officers his work permit, but was detained anyway. She said she spoke to him daily but could not visit because she is not a U.S. citizen.

“I never got to see him. He didn’t get to see his daughter for six weeks,” she told the Monitor. “When we told her what happened, she let out a big scream and hasn’t been the same since. She can’t sleep or eat. Neither can I.”

“I never imagined he would die in that place. I’m just destroyed. I have so much hurt in my heart,” she said.

Lopez-Cornejo leaves behind a 12-year-old daughter, his family said. Al Jazeera reported that he had lived with diabetes, high blood pressure and seizures, and that immigration advocates said he had been denied medication while in detention. His mother appeared in a video posted to Facebook by advocacy groups saying she had spoken with him Friday, when he told her he was not feeling well and had lost feeling in his face and hand.

Protesters gathered outside Delaney Hall on Monday for a vigil after news of his death spread.

The death is the second at Delaney Hall in eight months. Jean Wilson Brutus, 41, died there after a medical emergency in December, according to Al Jazeera.

The facility has faced protests and allegations in recent months over conditions including physical abuse by guards and spoiled food. In late May, at least 300 detainees began a hunger and labor strike. Women held in a separate unit later launched their own hunger strike, with demands that included improvements at the facility and the release of women under 21, detainees with medical conditions and mothers.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka called for the facility to be closed, saying Lopez-Cornejo’s death reflected a lack of oversight.

“GEO group and ICE have repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for transparency, public oversight and the laws designed to protect the health, safety and dignity of those in their custody,” Baraka said. “When accountability is absent, tragedies become all too common.”

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill also condemned the death, Al Jazeera reported, calling it “another painful reminder of why Delaney Hall should be closed” and saying her administration was working with the state’s congressional delegation “to gather all the facts surrounding this death.” Rep. Rob Menendez said ICE and its contractors must be held accountable, citing continued concerns over medical care at the facility.