Democrats demand facility closure after ACLU alleges pattern of neglect
According to an ICE document dated June 2, ICE eliminated a provision from its detainee-death reporting policy that required the agency to make public certain deaths occurring within 30 days after a person’s release from custody. Menendez said ICE changed the policy to keep the number of detainee deaths in ICE custody as low as possible.
The case of another Delaney Hall detainee illustrates the concern. Menendez said the man suffered what lawmakers believe was a seizure shortly after being detained last month and was transferred to a hospital, where he later died. “You didn’t hear about this because they released him to University Hospital, so he was no longer in ICE custody,” Menendez said. “So you have two deaths within a matter of weeks of each other.”
Staff at Delaney Hall performed CPR on Lopez-Cornejo before he was transported by emergency services to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead Saturday afternoon. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said in a recorded statement that Lopez-Cornejo died of an apparent heart attack. Menendez said Lopez-Cornejo had complained of “difficulties” he was experiencing before collapsing at the facility.
ICE said Lopez-Cornejo received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals. The official cause of death remains pending further medical examination, the agency said. Menendez said lawmakers asked ICE questions about the man’s medical care and death but were told they would need to make a formal request. Lopez-Cornejo, a father of a 12-year-old daughter, had been in the country for more than 20 years, according to Democratic lawmakers. ICE said he originally entered the United States in August 2006 and was removed that October. It was unclear when he re-entered the country, but ICE said he was arrested by immigration law enforcement on June 18.
Lopez-Cornejo is at least the 54th person to die in ICE custody since Trump’s return to office, according to UPI. If confirmed, his death would be at least the third connected to Delaney Hall in the last 12 months, including Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian immigrant who died Dec. 12, 2025, a day after arriving at the facility. ICE officially reported two deaths of people detained at Delaney Hall.
The 1,000-bed facility reopened as an ICE detention center in May 2025 under a 15-year, $1 billion contract. During a congressional hearing held less than two weeks before Lopez-Cornejo’s death, Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, alleged a “pattern” of neglect at the facility. Sinha told lawmakers that detainees there lack access to medical care, live in unsanitary conditions, eat inedible food and endure broken air conditioning in 100-degree temperatures.
“Every person I’ve spoken with, every letter that has come out of that facility tells some version of a similar account,” Sinha said. “When these individuals saw no other option, hundreds of them engaged in the hunger and labor strike for weeks to call attention to the injustices. And I think we can all agree on a simple truth: no one should have to starve themselves for the government to recognize their humanity.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said he recently conducted an oversight inspection of what he called a “billion-dollar boondoggle that has more to do with cruelty than with public safety.” Torres said not one immigrant detained at Delaney Hall has a history of serious or violent crime.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement that the city “cannot allow these disturbing failures to continue unchecked,” calling for Delaney Hall’s closure. “Every person, regardless of their immigration status, deserves to be treated with dignity, humanity, respect and care,” Baraka said. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., called the facility “a stain on our country” that “should be shut down at once.”
United Press International said it contacted ICE and GEO Group for comment.