A Congressman Questioned Reports of Deadly Conditions at an ICE Detention Center. Then Two More People Died.

I warned that if immediate action was not taken, this would happen again and again. I am devastated that I was right. Two weeks after the hearing, two more people detained at Delaney Hall died, reportedly from inadequate medical care.

Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo, a 39-year-old man who had lived in Plainfield, New Jersey for more than two decades, died after suffering a medical emergency. He was a construction worker, a father to a 12-year-old U.S. citizen daughter, and a beloved member of his community.

According to his family, Mr. Lopez Cornejo had managed diabetes, high blood pressure, and epilepsy with medication for years. His relatives now question whether he consistently received this medicine during the six weeks he spent at Delaney Hall. His brother recalled that even obtaining Tylenol required submitting paperwork and waiting several days.

Rep. Rob Menendez reported that when Lopez Cornejo suffered his medical emergency, he was seen by nurse practitioners because the facility’s lone physician was neither present nor on call. An ambulance eventually transported him to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on August 1st.

We now know that around the same time as the July hearing, Jose Chajon-Raxon, another man detained at Delaney Hall, experienced a seizure and was transported to the hospital. ICE granted him a temporary medical release before he died. Because he technically was no longer in a detention center, his death was not counted as death in ICE custody.

Congress must confront the truth of these stories. They deserve to be told. That’s why I sent a letter to Rep. Van Drew and the subcommittee to enter the stories of Lopez Cornejo and Chajon-Raxon into the official congressional record.

But the cases from Delaney Hall are not outliers. In July, 45-year-old Jesus Manuel Arenas Silvadied while in ICE custody in Georgia. His family says officers prevented him from bringing most of the medications he needed. Days later, 29-year-old Prisciliano Trejo died from acute leukemia after his family said detention officials delayed urgent medical treatment while he repeatedly complained of severe symptoms.