“An ICE Murder”: Gabriela Soto Says She Miscarried While Husband Was Detained in Solitary

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Guests

- Analilia MejíaDemocratic congressmember from New Jersey.

- Gabriela Sotowife of ICE detainee Martín Soto.

In the wake of a third ICE death at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, we speak with Gabriela Soto, whose husband Martín was one of the leaders of the May hunger strike at the immigration jail. Martín was transferred to Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey’s other ICE facility, during the hunger strike at Delaney. Gabriela is calling for the closure of both facilities.

“At first, I was fighting for my husband, but then I started to meet all of these people who are just innocent, and they are the people that make this country great,” says Soto, who blames her recent miscarriage on the stress of her husband being detained. “I am still grieving,” she says. “To me, this is an ICE murder, too.”

This comes as Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a Salvadoran immigrant, died Saturday after being held for six weeks at Delaney Hall. He is the third immigrant to die at the ICE jail, which has been open since May 2025. Lopez-Cornejo’s mother, Maria Cornejo, says her son took medicine to manage diabetes, seizures and his blood pressure, but had not received his medications regularly since being detained. ICE said in a statement that Lopez-Conejo experienced a “medical emergency” on Saturday and was transported to University Hospital in Newark, but Maria Cornejo says her son died at Delaney Hall.

More than 70 people inside the ICE jail have filed lawsuits alleging medical neglect. That neglect was one of the factors that led to the hunger strike. “Individuals are not receiving the kind of healthcare that they in fact need, particularly for chronic health conditions, for pregnancies, for cancers,” says Analilia Mejía, Democratic congressmember from New Jersey. “Being undocumented should not be a death sentence.”

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Anjali Kamat.

ANJALI KAMAT: In New Jersey, a Salvadoran immigrant died Saturday after being held for six weeks at the notorious Newark ICE facility known as Delaney Hall. Edwin Lopez-Cornejo is at least the 23rd person to die in ICE custody this year alone, while more than 50 immigrants have died in ICE custody since President Trump returned to office.

Lopez-Cornejo’s mother, Maria Cornejo, said her son took medication to manage diabetes, seizures and his blood pressure, but had not received his medications regularly since being detained. She said she last spoke to her son on Friday, when he reported numbness on the right side of his face and right hand and said he was supposed to undergo testing. ICE said in a statement that Lopez-Cornejo experienced a, quote, “medical emergency” on Saturday and was transported to University Hospital in Newark.

Maria Cornejo spoke to the group Movimiento Cosecha in a Facebook Live Monday. She said her son had lived in the United States for about 20 years and that he was detained by ICE in June when he was on his way to work in Plainfield, New Jersey.

MARIA CORNEJO: [translated] It’s a profound pain, my son. These men go around rounding up hardworking people, and my son fell into their hands. I don’t know how he was treated in there, but, sadly, my son passed away. And I haven’t received any calls regarding the circumstances of his death, because he didn’t die at the hospital. He died at the detention center. The hospital did call to tell me that he was already dead when he arrived. …

He never got to see his daughter again. His daughter’s name is Ashley Lopez, and she’s 12 years old. He leaves his daughter an orphan, and he leaves me with a very deep pain. And I don’t want any other mother to go through what I’m going through. What I want is justice.

ANJALI KAMAT: On Tuesday, nearly a hundred people rallied in Highland Park to call for the closure of Delaney Hall, to pray and to hear from the loved ones of detainees. Edwin Lopez-Cornejo’s 12-year-old daughter Ashley Cornejo addressed the crowd. She was distressed as she spoke, so her words may be a little hard to understand.

ASHLEY CORNEJO: While he was detained, he lost 40 pounds. And when I saw those videos on the news about him, he would say something about how they were treated horribly and how his face and hands were numb and how they had handcuffs on him. Every time it took place, his hands would be purple. He had high blood pressure, and he had diabetes. And they refused to give him his medication, and they brushed off his complaining. And they know they’re responsible. They know they’re guilty. But they want to lie about it so they don’t feel guilty. They’re not innocent at all.

AMY GOODMAN: Ashley is 12 years old. Delaney Hall is run by the for-profit prison company GEO Group.

For more, we’re joined by two guests. Democratic Congressmember Analilia Mejía has called for the closure of Delaney Hall. And Gabriela Soto, wife of Martín Soto, who was detained at Delaney Hall beginning in February but was transferred to the Elizabeth Detention Center in May after helping to organize a hunger strike at Delaney.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Congressmember Mejía, let’s begin with you. You’ve called for the closure of Delaney Hall. We learned about this death from Congressmember Menendez [sic]. Talk about Edwin [Lopez-Cornejo]. What is the for-profit prison telling you as an elected congressmember?

REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Well, first and foremost, first, thank you for covering this. And again, I’m so glad to hear that you’re also speaking to Gaby, who has been fighting so hard on behalf of her husband and immigrants that have been detained at Delaney Hall.

You know, GEO Group, which runs Delaney Hall, and CoreCivic, which runs the Elizabeth Detention Center, are two of the — two of the largest contractors that our government utilizes to run these detention centers. They have made it increasingly harder for representatives, such as myself, to enter those facilities, to speak to the detainees. They have made it nearly impossible, actually impossible, for state health officials to go in and determine whether or not the conditions within these detention centers are in fact safe.

But here’s what I’ve been able to ascertain in the multiple times I’ve been at both detention centers. One, the facilities just do not seem adequately able to care for the needs of the detainees, in particular those with chronic health conditions. I noticed that on the very first day I entered one of these detention centers. I heard from multiple detainees who shared that they weren’t getting their correct medication for chronic health conditions, that often they would be given a handful of pills and would not know what was actually contained or if they were the correct ones. And in one instance, I was able to actually confirm myself that one of my constituents that I went to visit, who looked completely unwell, and I went with her to the medical unit — we were able to determine by the end of my visit that she had been receiving a quarter of her diabetes medication that her doctor had prescribed, and not because her doctor changed it, and not because the detainee asked for it, but because someone within that facility made that decision without even checking with her doctor or even calling the pharmacy or her family to confirm the amount of medication that she usually took. This, to me, I immediately called it — I thought that it seemed to me like it was medical abuse and that it could cost people’s lives. And I’m afraid that it’s possible that this is what happened to Mr. Edwin.

AMY GOODMAN: And I should correct what I said: We didn’t learn about Edwin [Lopez-Cornejo] from Menendez. New Jersey Congressmember Rob Menendez visited Delaney Hall for an unannounced oversight visit on Monday. He revealed in an Instagram video that another detainee had died in July —

REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — but was not reported by ICE —

REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — as an in-cust