ICE narrowed its own death-reporting rules, then released a dying Delaney Hall detainee to keep his death out of the count

In the week of July 20, 2026 -- the most specific timing given in any available source -- a detainee who had recently arrived at Delaney Hall, the GEO Group-operated ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, began experiencing what medical staff believed was a seizure during intake processing. Staff called 911; emergency responders arrived roughly 30 to 40 minutes later and transported the detainee toward University Hospital in Newark. Before he reached the hospital, the ICE field office in Newark granted him a "discretionary release" from custody. He lost consciousness and died shortly after arriving at University Hospital. ICE did not publicly disclose the death.

In June 2026, ICE rescinded a 2021 policy that had required the agency to notify Congress and review any detainee death occurring within 30 days of release from custody. Under the narrower policy, ICE is no longer required to report or review the death of someone no longer in its physical custody at the time of death, regardless of how recently they were released. The Department of Homeland Security defended the change as "common sense," stating, "ICE is not responsible when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody."

Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) learned of the death only after ICE and GEO Group officials briefed him during an unannounced oversight visit to Delaney Hall on August 3, 2026 -- a visit prompted by the death, three days earlier, of a second detainee, Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo. ICE publicly reported and issued a statement about Lopez Cornejo's death, which occurred while he remained in ICE custody; it did not report this earlier death. Menendez said the reporting-policy change "is meant to keep the number of deaths that are being reported in ICE custody to as low of a number as possible," and that the incident was never referred to ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility or its Office of Inspector General. The detainee's identity had not been publicly disclosed as of this reporting, and neither ICE nor DHS responded to requests for comment on the death specifically.

Following the disclosure, all nine Democratic members of New Jersey's U.S. House delegation sent a joint letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting ICE Director David J. Venturella calling the reporting-policy rescission "a deliberate rollback of transparency" and demanding a full accounting of all three known Delaney Hall deaths, including which ones had been excluded from public reporting under the new policy.

Updates

2026-08-07 — NJ attorney general opened civil rights investigation into Delaney Hall [6]

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport's Division on Civil Rights issued investigative subpoenas to Delaney Hall, opening a civil rights investigation into the facility's practices following the string of detainee deaths. Gov. Mikie Sherrill said separately that her position "is clear that Delaney Hall should be closed."

2026-08-12 — DHS named third detainee Jose Chajon-Raxon, refined custody-release timeline [7, 8]

In a statement released August 12, 2026, a DHS spokesperson publicly named the previously unidentified third detainee as Jose Chajon-Raxon, a Guatemalan national, and gave a refined timeline: he was processed at Delaney Hall on July 18, experienced seizure-like symptoms and was transported to University Hospital the following day, and was released from ICE custody on July 22 -- four days after intake, not immediately before his hospitalization as originally reported -- and died shortly after that release. DHS again said ICE was not notified of his death and reiterated that it is not responsible for monitoring deaths of individuals no longer in its custody; ICE and DHS did not respond to press inquiries for more than ten days after Rep. Menendez's initial disclosure.