Post-Detention Deaths To Go Untracked In ‘Common Sense’ ICE Move

Benjamin J. Hulac, Washington Correspondent (NJ Spotlight)

WASHINGTON — The death of Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a 41-year-old migrant from El Salvador, drew public grief and elected officials’ calls to shut down Delaney Hall, the Newark detention center where he was detained.

The demise in late July of a still-unknown man, who had been released from Delaney, attracted no such notice. And soon, as a result of a Trump administration policy change, it’s the sort of loss that may go entirely undisclosed by federal authorities.

Like Lopez-Cornejo, the unknown man had been held at Delaney Hall. Unlike Lopez-Cornejo, though, he was not in federal immigration custody at his death. The Trump administration in June rescinded a policy compelling the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency spearheading the president’s deportation agenda, to report the deaths of recently released individuals.

“ICE confirmed to Representative Rob Menendez during an August 3 oversight visit that a man had died after a medical emergency during intake at Delaney Hall in the week of July 20, a death the agency never announced and that his office had first heard about on July 24,” Austin Kocher, an immigration researcher at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, wrote online Sunday.‘Substandard and abusive’

Established in 2021, the Biden administration-era rule required that ICE report to Congress and investigate the deaths of former detainees that occurred within 30 days of release. The policy was designed to thwart the agency from releasing seriously ill individuals in an attempt to avoid legal responsibility for them. ICE called the reversal “common sense.”

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said the turnaround “alarmed” her when it was announced.

“This decision comes amid increasingly frequent reports of substandard and abusive conditions at ICE detention facilities,” Davenport and other Democratic attorneys general said in a letter to Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE. “This change comes as deaths in ICE custody have risen to historic levels, with 51 detainee deaths occurring since January 20, 2025, as compared to 19 in the two years prior,” said their letter, sent in late June.

The administration of President Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2024 on mass deportation and has publicly said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America, has closed or attempted to close at least three internal ombudsmen at DHS. One of those agencies, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, was established during Trump’s first term to run unannounced inspections of ICE sites.

“The hamstringing of offices like OIDO must be considered in conjunction with limitations on congressional visits to ICE detention facilities and other measures that block transparency at a critical time,” Raul Pinto, deputy legal director for transparency at the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group, told NJ Spotlight News.At least three deaths

Lopez-Cornejo fell ill at Delaney Hall. He was pronounced dead Aug. 1 at University Hospital.

“When Lopez-Cornejo experienced a medical emergency while in ICE custody, GEO facility staff and medical staff responded immediately and called 911 for emergency medical services,” ICE said in a statement Aug. 3. “The official cause of death remains pending further medical examination.”

Boca Raton-based Geo Group, a publicly traded company valued at $4 billion, is the private operator of the detention center for ICE. At least three detained individuals linked to Delaney Hall have died during the Trump administration. Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old from Haiti, died Dec. 12, 2025, after he was brought to University Hospital from the detention center.

An unnamed ICE spokesperson, in an email to NJ Spotlight News, defended the decision to stop reporting deaths of released detainees.

“Under this updated policy, when an individual is no longer in ICE custody then ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths that may occur,” said this person, who did not identify themself when NJ Spotlight News asked. “This is common sense. ICE is not responsible when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody.”

The person said the policy “outlines procedures for timely notification, review and reporting of deaths occurring in ICE custody, including notifying next of kin, consulates, Congress and the public.”

Davenport on Friday said her office was investigating Delaney Hall for potential civil rights violations, adding that her office issued subpoenas.

“ICE and the Geo Group have continued to block our efforts for a full health inspection and there are now reports that visitations have been stopped,” Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, said Friday afternoon. “I have long opposed private detention facilities, and my position is clear that Delaney Hall should be closed.”

Separately, labor officials are investigating Delaney Hall for potential workplace violations.

Staff from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted an unannounced inspection in May, after a complaint “alleging hazards involving maintenance employees who are employed by the GEO Group,” according to an OSHA spokesperson.Needed medication

Delaney Hall had an average 812 people in custody as of July 9, according to data from TRAC, a watchdog group. In recent months the average was 900 individuals.

The capacity of the Elizabeth Detention Center, 9 miles south of Delaney, is significantly smaller: An average 300 people are housed there, according to TRAC figures.

More than 600,000 people have been booked into ICE detention centers since Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2025, according to Kocher.

Lopez-Cornejo’s mother, Maria Cornejo, told the immigrant advocacy group Movimiento Cosecha that her son was prescribed medication for diabetes, high blood pressure and seizures. He was denied access to his medications, she said.

“Delaney Hall needs to be closed. It is a detention center of cruelty and chaos,” Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10th) said in a recent interview with NJ Spotlight News. “And we continue to see examples of this with another death there.”

In June, Congress approved $70 billion in additional funding for ICE, with Republican support and Democratic opposition. That money is now in the hands of the agency.

This story was originally published by NJ Spotlight News through the NJ News Commons.