Delaney Hall Detention Center is pictured in Newark, N.J. on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. Photo by Angelina Katsanis/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A 41-year-old man detained at a private immigration detention facility in New Jersey has died, the Trump administration said Monday, further raising concerns for the safety of migrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and specifically at Delaney Hall Detention Facility.
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a Salvadoran national, died Saturday at University Hospital in Newark, N.J., where he was taken after experiencing a medical emergency at Delaney Hall, which is privately operated by the GEO Group under a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract.
He is at least the 54th person to die in ICE custody since President Donald Trump's return to office, according to a UPI count of ICE detainee-death reports.
According to Democratic lawmakers, Lopez-Cornejo, a father of a 12-year-old daughter, had been in the country for more than 20 years. ICE said he originally entered the United States in August 2006 and was removed from the country that October. It was unclear when he re-entered the country, but ICE said he was arrested by immigration law enforcement on June 18 amid Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown.
