A security guard at Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention facility deployed a chemical spray against demonstrators gathered outside the front gate on August 8, one week after a detainee died in federal custody at the site. The incident unfolded during a National Day of Action rally organized by a New Jersey and New York coalition demanding the facility’s closure.
According to Insider NJ, tensions mounted as protestors repeatedly blocked the front gate while vans entered and exited the facility. When a demonstrator prevented the gate from closing a second time, a guard produced a canister and sprayed toward that person and others standing nearby, then radioed for additional security personnel. More guards arrived, and a loud verbal confrontation followed.
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo’s Death, One Week Earlier
The rally was timed to mark one week since the death of Edwin Jovanny Lopez-Cornejo, a 41-year-old Salvadoran immigrant who was pronounced dead on August 1 at University Hospital in Newark. As the Davis Vanguard reported, Lopez-Cornejo had been detained at Delaney Hall since June 18, when ICE agents arrested him in Plainfield.
His mother, Maria Cornejo, told the New Jersey Monitor she last heard from her son the day before he died, when he described losing sensation in his face and hand. She said he had diabetes and high blood pressure and had not been receiving his medication regularly since his detention. His 12-year-old daughter told ABC7 that facility staff refused to provide his medication and dismissed his complaints. His family says his death was preventable. ICE’s official statement said Lopez-Cornejo received proper medical care and that staff called 911 immediately when a medical emergency occurred…