Protest follows the death of a Salvadoran migrant as family members allege medical negligence at the Delaney Hall facility.
On Tuesday, the Cosecha New Jersey organization denounced the lies of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), regarding conditions at immigrant detention centers.
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Previously, on Aug. 1, 41-year-old Salvadoran migrant Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died after experiencing a medical emergency at the Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey.
Cosecha activist Jenny Garcia urged the media “not to regurgitate ICE’s lies” during a protest at a church in Highland Park. She said the agency “is going to deny that it deprived Edwin of medication” and asserted that attorneys representing other detainees have documented a lack of adequate medical care.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed the death of Lopez-Cornejo, whom authorities detained on June 18 on allegations that he had entered the country illegally at some point after having previously been deported in 2006.
The migrant’s mother, Maria Cornejo, explained that her son was taking medication for diabetes and high blood pressure and also suffered from seizures. She said that on Friday he had told her he was feeling unwell, leading her to believe that the facility was not continuing his medical treatment.
Maria called for justice at Tuesday’s protest for Cornejo and for his daughter, who has been left orphaned, and denounced his death as a result of “medical negligence.” She said she has a recording from the hospital confirming that her son arrived there dead and that beforehand “he needed medical attention and they did not provide it.”
The event was attended by relatives of other detainees at Delaney Hall, including Maribel Encalada, the daughter of a man who suffers from high blood pressure and a tooth infection and “has gone without treatment all this time.”
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, collapsed at Delaney Hall, the ICE detention center in Newark, and died August 1. Cause of death is pending an autopsy.
ICE’s own file on him: deported to El Salvador in 2006, back in the country illegally, held on a reinstated removal order when he… https://t.co/s4TEK2JOKr
— IredcapI (@IredcapI) August 4, 2026
Gov. Sherrill Denounces Obstacles
On Monday night, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said her administration is working with several members of Congress “to gather all the facts surrounding this death,” but complained that it continues to face obstacles to conducting a full inspection of health conditions at the facility.
“Every effort to block oversight raises serious questions about what is happening inside Delaney Hall and what those operating the facility are trying to hide,” Sherrill added, referring to the private company GEO, which has a multimillion-dollar contract with ICE to manage the Newark facility.
After Cornejo’s death became known, residents staged protests near Delaney Hall, where participants tied black ribbons to the fence surrounding the facility, left flowers and messages at an altar, and carried signs demanding justice and calling on Sherrill to “do the right thing and close” the facility.
In 2026, more than 20 deaths of people in ICE custody have been recorded. In July, the federal agency changed its internal policy so that it would no longer be required to report the deaths of people who had recently been released from its custody.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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