Washington (United States) (AFP) – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Monday that a man from El Salvador died in detention at a US immigration prison accused of poor conditions, drawing calls for its closure from Democrats.
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, was detained by ICE on June 18 after the immigration force said he had “illegally reentered the US” after first coming to the country in 2006. He was held at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in New Jersey before he suffered an unspecified “medical emergency” that led to his death on Saturday at University Hospital in Newark, ICE said in a statement. The force said the cause of Lopez-Cornejo’s death was subject to “further medical examination.”
Protesters have rallied outside the 1,000-bed prison in Newark, New Jersey, in recent months over alleged poor conditions at the facility, one of many holding people rounded up in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation sweep. Lopez-Cornejo’s mother told the local New Jersey Monitor news site that she was “heartbroken” by her son’s death.
“I’m destroyed,” said Maria Cornejo in an interview published Monday, adding she was unable to visit him as she is not a US citizen. “I’ve never felt pain this deep before. He was a good son.” She said she did not know the circumstances around his death, but said he was not being given medication regularly for diabetes and high blood pressure, the site reported. ICE said the man had received “proper medical care” in detention.
US Senator Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, called for the facility to be shuttered. “This is not the first death of a detainee at Delaney Hall, and absent decisive action, it will not be the last,” he said in a statement. “Delaney Hall must be closed immediately and permanently.”
Clashes between police and protesters outside the facility in May led to a curfew being imposed around it by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat. After news of Lopez-Cornejo’s death, he also demanded the facility’s closure, saying its contractor GEO Group and ICE had “demonstrated a disregard for transparency, public oversight and the laws designed to protect the health, safety and dignity of those in their custody.”
According to the office of New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, detainees have previously complained of undrinkable water, a lack of medical attention, and the spread of the flu and Covid-19 within the facility.
© 2024 AFP
