A Third Death Comes to Light as Questions Mount over Conditions and Secrecy at Delaney Hall

NEWARK, NJ [08.13.26] — After concealing a third death inside Delaney Hall, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finally publicly acknowledged the death of José Chajon-Raxon. Chajon- Raxon suffered a fatal medical emergency just one day after being detained.  DHS remained silent for nearly one month.

The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice demands the immediate release of everyone held inside Delaney Hall and the permanent closure of this abusive and inhumane prison. 

Three people detained at Delaney Hall are now dead, and still the Trump administration asks their families and the public to accept secrecy instead of answers, obstruction instead of oversight, and death without accountability.

Jean Wilson Brutus. Edwin López-Cornejo. José Chajon-Raxon.

They were not numbers on an ICE detention roster. They were human beings with families, histories, hopes, and people who loved them. Jean Wilson Brutus, a Haitian man, died within twenty-four hours of being detained at Delaney Hall. Edwin López-Cornejo was a Salvadoran father; his family has spoken publicly about the devastation of losing him and raised serious questions about the medical care he received before his death. José Chajon-Raxon, a Guatemalan man, entered Delaney Hall on July 18 and died shortly after. 

ICE did not publicly announce his death.

We know his name only because our New Jersey representative, Rep. Rob Menendez, has conducted regular oversight at Delaney Hall. That oversight has become one of the only windows into what happens inside, and it is how the death of José Chajon-Raxon came to light.

When state and local officials are blocked from fully inspecting Delaney Hall, Congress must intervene to reveal what is happening inside, to unveil the secrecy that makes this detention system so dangerous. 

We call on our New Jersey delegation to keep dragging these abuses and avoidable deaths into the light, and on representatives across the country to conduct the same regular oversight nationwide.

Three lives have already been lost. New Jersey cannot look away.

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