A Salvadoran citizen, identified as Edwin López-Cornejo, has died while being held in a facility of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the state of New Jersey, a facility that has concentrated protests and complaints for years regarding the treatment of detained individuals.
In an official statement, ICE explained that the medical team from the University Hospital of Newark certified the death of the 41-year-old Salvadoran this Sunday, who was hospitalized in the Delaney Hall detention center.
According to ICE's version, López-Cornejo suffered a "medical emergency" while in custody, although the medical staff "responded immediately." "The official cause of death is pending further medical examination," the agency has indicated.
The U.S. Border Patrol had previously arrested the man for "illegally entering the country." An immigration judge ordered his removal in August 2006, and he was deported to El Salvador, although he later returned to U.S. territory "on an unknown date."
"On June 18, 2026, ICE detained López-Cornejo in Plainfield, New Jersey. He was held in the Delaney Hall detention center awaiting his removal from the United States, under the reactivation of his previous order," the agency specified in its statement.
Delaney Hall had already been the scene of another death. In December 2025, a Haitian migrant, Jean Wilson Brutus, died "of natural causes" after "suffering a medical emergency," ICE reported at that time.
The governor of New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill, has stated that authorities are working "to gather all the facts related to this death" and has denounced "obstructions" in her attempts to carry out a health inspection at the center, managed by Geo Group, a private prison services company that operates numerous detention centers in the country.
"This tragedy is another painful reminder of why Delaney Hall should be closed. I have long opposed the use of for-profit private prisons that operate in a space that should be reserved for the government," the governor has stated.
At the beginning of the year, local authorities declared a temporary curfew in response to the protests demanding the closure of the center, motivated by reports of inhumane conditions for the people detained inside.