Pallone and Mejia call for inspections and closure of facility

The death of a second detainee in less than eight months has prompted two members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation to call for an investigation and the closure of Newark’s Delaney Hall.

The lawmakers also demanded that state health inspectors be granted access to the controversial Doremus Avenue detention center. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and GEO Group, the private prison company that operates Delaney Hall, have so far barred inspectors from most of the complex, including the medical wing.

In separate statements, Democratic U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ-06) and Analilia Mejia (NJ-11) called for an oversight visit and an independent investigation into the death of detainee Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo. He died Aug. 1 after an unspecified medical emergency.

GEO Group has a 15-year, billion-dollar contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate Delaney Hall, a former prison that reopened last year as an immigration detention center.

“If there’s nothing to hide, there’s no reason to keep them out,” Mejia said. “DHS must carry out a full, independent investigation [into the death]. Under these conditions, medically vulnerable people are being given death sentences due to the lack of care. … Delaney Hall must be shut down.”

Pallone echoed those concerns, saying Cornejo, of El Salvador, may have died because of what Pallone described as “pervasive medical neglect” at Delaney Hall, allegations he said mirrored accounts he heard while touring the facility.

“When I demanded Trump’s DHS immediately improve conditions at Delaney Hall, I received radio silence,” Pallone said. “Now, another one of our neighbors has died at Delaney Hall because of President Trump and [Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne] Mullin’s negligence and disregard for human suffering.”

“This tragedy was entirely preventable, but this administration’s cruelty ensures it will be repeated if immediate steps aren’t taken to strip GEO Group of its billion-dollar contract and shutter Delaney Hall,” he continued.

Cornejo, a father of one, had been held at Delaney Hall since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents picked him up in Plainfield on June 18 while he was on his way to work, according to his family and DHS.

He had several chronic health conditions and took medication to manage his diabetes, high blood pressure, and seizures, his mother, Maria Cornejo, told Cosecha New Jersey during a Facebook Live event Monday.

He had not been feeling well Friday, she said, and part of his face and his right hand had gone numb. The next day, medical personnel at University Hospital in Newark called her to identify her son’s body.

“He was my second child, and today I have lost him at the hands of immigration, and I don’t know how to heal this pain,” Maria Cornejo said. “The loss is irreparable. I cannot bear this.”

His cause of death remains unclear. Maria Cornejo and Cornejo’s brother, Danilo Lopez, blamed Delaney Hall staff and said they do not believe guards gave him his medication.

A DHS spokesperson disputed their claim, saying Cornejo “received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals” while detained.

GEO Group did not respond to questions Monday and instead referred reporters to federal officials.

On Monday night, Aug. 3, activists gathered outside the facility’s barbed-wire gates for a vigil honoring Cornejo and Jean Wilson Brutus, the other detainee who died at Delaney Hall in December. Organizers called for an independent investigation into both deaths, the closure of Delaney Hall, and the dismantling of ICE, according to CBS New York.

“We’re reaching out to the divine, we’re reaching out to God. Why is this happening?” one speaker said during the vigil.

“We refuse to have our neighbors stolen from us,” another speaker said.

Cornejo’s family also spoke at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 4, outside The Reformed Church of Highland Park. His 12-year-old daughter, Ashley, broke down and cried after talking about her father.

“It’s so sad and heartbreaking,” Ashley said through tears. “I will not let his story be unheard. I want his voice to be heard, loud and clear, even though he’s not here with us anymore. He’s still here with us in spirit.”