Illustration by Elizabeth Romage / SOC Images.
A New Jersey man detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) died on Saturday, Aug. 1 at Delaney Hall, the privately run detention facility in Newark. This marks the second death at the facility.
Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo, from El Salvador, was pronounced dead that Saturday evening at University Hospital in Newark, according to his family and attorneys who confirmed to news outlets. He leaves behind a 12-year-old daughter.
He lived in New Jersey for more than 20 years, was detained by ICE agents outside his home in Plainfield on June 18 as he left for work, according to his mother, Maria in an interview with Cosecha New Jersey, which was livestreamed on Facebook in Spanish.
“I have nothing bad to say about my son. He was my second child. And now I have lost him at the hands of ICE. I don’t know how I’ll heal from this pain, because losing my son leaves me with a very deep pain. These men go around grabbing hard-working people,” said his mother.
He had held a work permit since 2022.
Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo Suffered From ‘Chronic Conditions’ And It Worsened
ICE said he was originally arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol, after entering the country without inspection in 2006. He was ordered removed by an immigration judge and deported, and later reentered the United States, which is the basis for his most recent detention.
His death is the latest in a series of deaths of immigrants held in ICE custody nationwide as cited by ICE data. Slice of Culture was previously there reporting on the ongoing protests and civil unrest at the facility.
The continual arrests ensued by the Trump administration has led to over 65,765 as of July 11, according to figures by the Transactional Records Access Clearing House or Trac, nonpartisan data registry through Syracuse University.
“The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey has received numerous reports regarding dangerous and unlawful conditions of confinement at Delaney Hall,” read a statement by the NJ American Civil Liberties Union via a letter published by the current active field director Arthur Wilson, Jr.
ICE confirmed in a statement that Lopez Cornejo, whom the agency identified as 41, “experienced a medical emergency while in ICE custody” and said the official cause of death remains pending further medical examination.
The Cornejo family disputes the accounts as framed by ICE’s account of his treatment, who claimed that he “received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals,” according to Edwin’s detainee death report by ICE federal agency.
Cornejo’s death follows the prior death of Jean Wilson Brutus, from Haiti, who was detained last year at Delaney Hall on Dec. 11, and suffered from a “medical emergency” according to ICE’s statement. He was pronounced deceased on Dec. 12 at University Hospital in Newark.
According to his family, Lopez Cornejo had documented chronic conditions—diabetes, high blood pressure and epilepsy—that required daily medication, and he was not consistently receiving it during his six weeks at Delaney Hall.
On the evening of July 31, he called his mother to tell her he wasn’t feeling well and had lost feeling in half his face and right hand. He said he intended to request medical exams, but didn’t know when he’d be seen, as told by his mother in the video.
By the next morning, his condition had worsened. His family alleges GEO Group guards, who staff the facility under a federal contract, were aware of his debilitated conditions but did not intervene until he collapsed.
Maria said she learned of her son’s death only when University Hospital called her Saturday evening and asked her to come identify his body; she had not been told he was hospitalized.
Neither ICE nor GEO Group had contacted the family or Lopez Cornejo’s attorney to notify them of his death, according to the family.
“In less than a year, yet another family is forced to endure the unimaginable loss of a loved one while in custody at Delaney Hall. The death of Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo is a heartbreaking reminder of the consequences of a facility that has operated for far too long without adequate oversight, accountability or transparency,” said Mayor of Newark Ras Baraka in a press release.
A federal habeas corpus petition on Lopez Cornejo’s behalf—which had already secured a court order barring his transfer out of the facility—was still pending before the U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti at the time of his death, filed just eight days earlier by his attorneys.
In its statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said GEO facility staff and medical personnel “responded immediately and called 911 for emergency medical services” when Lopez Cornejo experienced his medical emergency, and that he had “received proper medical care” while in custody.
Sen. Andy Kim took to social media, explaining that he had been told the cause of death was a heart attack and cardiac arrest, though ICE said the official cause remained under review.
Efforts to track the death count under federal jurisdiction of ICE custody were blurred, in a recent policy change under DHS which no longer has to report the death of former detainees that occurred within 30 days.
Lopez Cornejo Is Not The Only Death
ICE enforcement has moved the needle forward by buying out ICE detention facilities, with the recent purchase of two facilities for $1.5 billion under CoreCivic, one of the largest private facility operators in the nation.
At the current moment, the agenda of ICE is veered towards purchasing vacant warehouses in the country, according a presser by the company:
- CoreCivic $739.2 million for the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego
- $732.6 million for the California City Detention Facility in Kern County
Under the Trump administration, now more than 65,000 people are being detained, and 2026 is projected to total 107,000 of detentions through ICE custody, according to the data by the Migration Policy Institute, a thinktank on migration oriented issues.
The second death at the facility is mounting scrutiny among advocate groups who say Lopez Cornejo’s death reflects a broader pattern of denied care at the facility.
Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey, called the death “another devastating result of the rampant inhumane conditions” at detention facilities nationwide, according to an email to Slice of Culture.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said she was “deeply disturbed” by the death and renewed calls for Delaney Hall’s closure.
Delaney Hall has faced repeated complaints since reopening, including from elected officials who say they have clashed with federal authorities over access to the facility and from protesters who gathered outside the center earlier this year in support of detainees on a hunger strike.
At least 32 people have died in ICE custody nationwide so far this year according to figures from the National Immigration Project.
Community members, immigrant rights advocates, faith leaders and Lopez Cornejo’s family gathered at two public events to mourn his death and call for accountability at Delaney Hall and other ICE detention facilities.
Health inspections of the facility itself are not on par with humane conditions, said Ana Pazmino, the executive director of Resistencia en Accion NJ, a grassroots immigration focused on advocacy on behalf of migrants who spoke to Slice of Culture on a phone call interview.
“So the picture is heart breaking,” said Pazmino, who attended the recent vigil and press conference at the wake of the recent death of Cornejo, and said that ICE is outright just acting above the rule of law.
“Now we know that they are not attending to the medical needs of those inside,” she said, adding the organization was working on ways to compile data on ICE sightings to monitor ICE enforcement.
A vigil for Lopez Cornejo was held outside Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center and a press conference at Reformed Church of Highland Park on Monday, Aug. 3. The community can support Cornejo’s family through a GoFundMe account that was posted a few days ago.
Pazmino additionally said that in the past two weeks another individual died under ICE supervision. Slice of Culture reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in confirming the third death, but none have been provided since the time of reporting.
The Call To Help Your Neighbors
Recently, the presence of ICE in the streets of Jersey City has sounded the alarm for residents in the vicinity. One recent sighting posted on social media of ICE officers on 2nd Street between Erie Street and Jersey Avenue.
“I strongly condemn these tactics, meant to instill fear,” posted Ward E Councilwoman Eleana Little who took to social media pushing back on ICE’s fear mongering to the community at large.
For more information and resources, regardless of immigration status, you can go to these sites below:
- ACLU Know Your Rights
- ACLU Derechos de los Inmigrantes
- Immigrants’ Right Resources including information on healthcare for immigrants, immigrants right toolkit, power of attorney form and more by the New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children, in collaboration with the Rutgers Law School Child Advocacy Clinic, Make the Road NJ and Legal Services of NJ
