Third Death Linked to New Jersey ICE Detention Center

A Guatemalan immigrant detained at Delaney Hall, an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, has died after suffering a medical emergency, making him the third person connected to the center to die, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed.

José Chajón-Raxón was arrested by ICE agents and brought to Delaney Hall on July 18. Four days later, according to the agency, he was "released from ICE custody on July 22." DHS did not explain the circumstances of his release.

A nurse who responded to the emergency "witnessed Chajón-Raxón experiencing seizure-like activity," DHS said in a statement. Medical personnel were called and he was taken to a hospital. The department did not say what happened after he arrived there, whether he left the hospital before dying, or when exactly he died.

"Per ICE policy, when an individual is no longer in ICE custody then ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths that may occur. This is common sense," the DHS statement said.

The case follows a policy change earlier this year under which ICE stopped reporting deaths occurring within 30 days of a person's release from custody, reversing a 2021 Biden administration policy. Rep. Rob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who has regularly visited Delaney Hall, said the change creates a "loophole" letting the agency release someone and then "claim it has no responsibility to investigate their death or inform Congress and the public."

Chajón-Raxón's death was not publicly known until Menendez disclosed it last week, following another death tied to the facility. Edwin López-Cornejo, a Salvadoran man, died earlier this month after a medical emergency in ICE detention, and Jean Wilson Brutus, a Haitian man held at Delaney Hall, died in December.

More than 50 people have died in ICE custody nationwide since President Trump took office, as rights groups raise concerns about medical care and conditions in detention facilities. Delaney Hall, which reopened in May 2025 amid the administration's immigration crackdown, has faced protests over alleged abuse and spoiled food, including a hunger and labor strike by at least 300 detainees in late May and a separate hunger strike by women held there. ICE says detainees receive appropriate medical care.