A Salvadoran man detained at a New Jersey immigration facility has died, marking the second death at the facility in less than a year, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, died on Saturday at a Newark hospital after experiencing a medical emergency at the Delaney Hall detention facility. Staff from GEO Group, the private contractor that runs the facility, and medical personnel responded and arranged for his transport to the hospital, but he could not be revived. An official cause of death has not yet been determined.
ICE records show Lopez-Cornejo was first detained and deported after crossing into the US without authorization in 2006. He later returned to the country and was picked up again by agents in Plainfield, New Jersey, in mid-June this year, before being held at Delaney Hall under an order reviving his earlier deportation case. He leaves behind a 12-year-old daughter, his family said.
Lopez-Cornejo reportedly lived with diabetes, high blood pressure, and seizures, and immigration advocates say he was denied his medication while in detention. His mother, Maria Cornejo, appeared in a video posted to Facebook by advocacy groups, saying she had spoken with her son on Friday. He told her he was not feeling well and had lost feeling in his face and hand.
As word of his death spread, protesters gathered outside Delaney Hall on Monday to hold a vigil in his memory. This death comes eight months after another detainee, Jean Wilson Brutus, 41, died at the same facility following a medical emergency in December.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said the death marked another painful moment for families connected to the facility. “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,” he said. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill also condemned the death, saying it was “another painful reminder of why Delaney Hall should be closed” and that her administration was working with the state’s congressional delegation “to gather all the facts surrounding this death.”
New Jersey Representative Rob Menendez said the death added to a pattern of concern over conditions at the facility. “We continue to hear about the medical conditions at Delaney Hall. We continue to hear about the inadequate care … which is why we keep showing up,” he said, adding that ICE and its contractors must be held accountable.
Delaney Hall reopened last year as part of a broader expansion of immigration detention under the administration of President Donald Trump.
Source: www.aljazeera.com