"This Is an ICE Murder, Too": Gabriela Soto Says She Miscarried While Husband Was Detained in Solitary

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-custody death, because ICE had recently changed their policies on — REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Exactly. AMY GOODMAN: — when to report in-custody deaths. I want to just play a clip of what Menendez put out. REP. ROB MENENDEZ: This comes after another death occurred just weeks ago at Delaney Hall. An individual that had just been brought there suffered what they believe was a seizure. But you didn’t hear about this because they released him to University Hospital, so he was no longer in ICE custody. Why did they do that? Recently, ICE changed their rules, so they no longer report on deaths that happen 30 days after someone is released from ICE custody. This is meant to keep the number of deaths that are being reported in ICE custody to as low a number as possible. ANJALI KAMAT: Congressmember, your comment on this? REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: I think that my colleague is exactly right. It’s a cynical attempt to artificially lower the number of people who are being harmed by this system. We have called against this change, again, as my colleague shared. It used to be that ICE had a responsibility to the American people to, within any — within that 30-day period, any detainee, what had to be — who lost their life, this had to be reported to the American people. This was cynically changed. Now it’s only those who are — who lose their lives within, quote-unquote, ”ICE custody.” But we are clear that individuals are not receiving the kind of healthcare that they in fact need, particularly for chronic health conditions, for pregnancies, for cancers. And this — you know, being undocumented should not be a death sentence. ANJALI KAMAT: I want to bring in Gabriela Soto into the conversation. She’s the wife of Martín Soto, who was detained at Delaney Hall starting in February and transferred in May to the Elizabeth Detention Center after helping organize a hunger strike in Delaney. Gabriela, how is your husband doing, and how are you doing? GABRIELA SOTO: Hi. I want to say that whatever that started to happen in Delaney Hall, it’s really painful, because my husband, when he was transferred out, he was transferred, and he was put into solitary in the Elizabeth Detention Center, run by CoreCivic. And it’s almost three months that he has been detained in solitary. And within that time frame, not only is his mental state just broken, but I had to give him the news that I had lost my pregnancy while him in solitary. That’s not something that I even knew how to handle. I am still grieving, because there’s just no — there’s just no words to even describe how corrupted the system is. And I can’t — I don’t have any words to say. ANJALI KAMAT: Gabriela, our deepest condolences on your miscarriage. What are you calling for right now? GABRIELA SOTO: I am calling on the closure of Delaney Hall and the Elizabeth Detention Center. The Elizabeth Detention Center has been open for so many years. Delaney Hall has been opened for a little bit over a year. I want the freedom for every single person in there. That’s the only thing I started to fight about. 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. They are the — they are the people that build the roads that we drive, we walk, the houses we live in. And we’re tearing them apart, and it’s not fair. I want justice for Edwin’s family, for this detainee that we just found out about. How did we not know about this? It’s the system that is so corrupted, that they don’t — they don’t even have a — they act like they don’t even have a heart, on what is going on. They can’t even take responsibility for their own actions. This is — to me, I don’t see it as they’re going to qualify my pregnancy loss as an ICE murder. But to me, to me, it is, because I started — I started with my husband in detention pregnant, and I’m going to live this for the rest of my life. And I was holding off to know the gender of the baby, and I found out the gender of the baby the day I was going to lose her. We didn’t pick out a name. We didn’t pick out anything. And in less than five hours, she was gone. I mean, this is an ICE murder, too, because if he wasn’t detained or if they didn’t — if they didn’t — if they took responsibility, then I would — then I would still be pregnant. And I would be — and I would be ready to give birth in a little bit less than a month. AMY GOODMAN: Gabriela, our deepest, deepest condolences to you and to your husband Martín, being held by CoreCivic in New Jersey. GEO Group runs Delaney Hall. I just want to tell our stations we’re not going to break for the second break, which we always do, but it is very difficult to break for the show right now. And I wanted to bring Congressmember Mejía back into this to talk to Gabriela Soto. You were elected in a special election. Mikie Sherrill became governor, and you took her seat, and so you’re running again. REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: But so, you’re in this new position, longtime community activist. REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: What is happening on the closure that you are calling for of these prisons, of these immigrant jails? REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Of these for-profit prisons. AMY GOODMAN: What stops it from being dealt with? For-profit prisons. REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: What happens in Congress? REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Well, we have the — first of all, Gaby, as you know, I’ve — there are no words to give any kind of comfort that — that this horrible situation is called for. Gaby, Martín and so many families, my heart breaks, and — but it gives me the resolve to continue to fight here. As you said, I’ve been an organizer for 25 years. I, in fact, was at Delaney Hall when my now colleagues, Congressman Menendez, Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver, as well as Mayor Baraka, had joined forces with immigrant groups calling for the closure of Delaney Hall. This was at the beginning, when they were trying to scale up that detention center to add hundreds and hundreds of beds. I was there when the mayor was dragged inside, into the gates, and arrested. I was there when I saw agents myself put their hands on members of Congress. And now, as we all know, they continue to persecute my colleague LaMonica McIver. AMY GOODMAN: Who herself is pregnant. REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: I’ve been working — who herself is pregnant. We have been working. Our delegation, our New Jersey delegation, has been working with community groups, asking them to give us information on medically vulnerable people. We have made a commitment to take turns to visit Delaney and the Elizabeth Detention Center, because we are going to be relentless. We know that because we have the oversight capability, at least we have the ability to be able to go into these detention centers. Working with community groups, working with family members like Gaby, we’re gathering information, making sure that we are keeping the detailed information that will be necessary, for when we flip this House, we can hold our government accountable. It is important for every American, every individual listening to this, to understand that this isn’t just about violating the due process and equal protection rights of immigrants. This is about our government stripping constitutional protections for those who have them. And that means that if we allow our government to strip immigrant communities from their due process and equal protection rights, we are in fact allowing our government to strip it from every single American. So, even if you believe that this isn’t something that impacts you and your family, it in fact does, because this is about fighting to uphold our laws. This is about fighting to ensure that we are abiding by human rights. And this is about ensuring that we aren’t letting a for-profit system destroy human beings. Unfortunately, what we are seeing is a profit-driven model that is housing people in unjust — in unjust and inhumane conditions, and it is costing people their lives. And more so, you then have a government that is willing to lie to its own people, because by — having this tricky way of moving people off the books so that it doesn’t impact the number of deaths that you have caused isn’t actually reducing the number of deaths. It’s reducing the amount of transparency the American people can expect or receive from their own government. ANJALI KAMAT: The contract, the 15-year-old contract, 15-year contract between GEO and ICE for Delaney Hall, is worth roughly $1 billion. REP. ANALILIA MEJÍA: Billion dollars. ANJALI KAMAT: Gabriela Soto, I want to bring you back into the conversation. Have you been able to visit your husband? You just have 20 seconds. GABRIELA SOTO: Yeah, so, I visit him whenever they allow me to. The Elizabeth Detention Center is a little — is a little bit better than Delaney Hall with the visiting. But it also depends, because he’s also in solitary, so, quote-unquote, he’s an “endangerment to the community.” So, it just depends on the card that is in the moment there. AMY GOODMAN: Gabriela, we’re going to have listeners and viewers go to democracynow.org, when you came into our studio, to hear an extended conversation with you, Gabriela Soto, wife of Martín Soto, who was detained at Delaney Hall, then moved to Elizabeth Detention Center after helping to organize a hunger strike at Delaney. And Congressmember Analilia Mejía of New Jersey, thanks so much for being with us. Happy birthday to Amba Guerguerian! I’ll be in Scotland next Tuesday. Media Options