GOP blocks Booker bid to close Delaney Hall after third death

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker bemoaned what he called a “callous disregard for health” as Senate Republicans blocked his effort to force Delaney Hall to close following the death earlier this month of Edwin Lopez-Cornejo.

Lopez-Cornejo, a 41-year-old Salvadoran national, died Aug. 1. He had diabetes and was having a medical emergency. He was the third person to die at the Newark detention center in less than a year.

“I am stunned that there is this callous disregard for health,” Booker told the New Jersey Globe after speaking on the Senate floor. “This is just in every way just unacceptable that they’re allowing this to go on and not demanding that this stop.”

While Booker was trying to get the Senate to close Delaney Hall with the support of fellow Democratic Sen. Andy Kim, New Jersey’s nine House Democrats sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director David Venturella.

They demanded full details about the three deaths at the facility, called for  “full unencumbered access” to Delaney Hall for lawmakers and New Jersey health officials, and requested inspection reports, reviews and other documents regarding medical care since Geo took over operations.

“Three deaths, repeated allegations of medical neglect, restricted oversight, and less public transparency are a terrible track record of care for individuals in your custody,” the lawmakers wrote. “At this point, the question is no longer whether ICE knows what is happening inside Delaney Hall. It is, ‘why does ICE continue to allow the GEO Group to put lives at risk?’”

Booker went to the floor Thursday and asked the Senate for unanimous approval for his legislation shutting down the privately-run Newark facility within 90 days.

“Edwin Lopez-Cornejo’s death was not a tragedy. A tragedy is something that no one could have prevented,” Booker said. “This is a choice. Every single day DHS keeps Delaney Hall open is another chance for this to happen again. Three times already. We are out of excuses and time. How many people should die?”

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) objected, killing the measure for now. He said Booker and his fellow Democrats refused to adequately fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In actuality, the Democrats demanded changes to ICE operations and procedures as their price for funding the agency, which Republicans refused to support.

“The diagnosis is ideological and the prescription was written before the patient entered the room,” Schmitt said. “If the bridge needs repair, you fix the bridge. You don’t blow it up and congratulate yourself for preventing future traffic accidents. Yet, that is the theory behind this bill. A tragedy did occur. Therefore, Democrats say law enforcement must disappear.”

But Booker said you close a bridge for repairs if people are falling through holes in the pavement. 

“Delaney Hall is a nightmare,” Booker said in response to Schmitt. “I did not come to the floor to talk about closing facilities all over the country. I’m talking about one facility with a record of people dying unnecessarily, with a record of people denied healthy food. To keep it open, waiting for something to change while more people are suffering and may die, is irresponsible beyond compare.”

Geo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Booker told the New Jersey Globe after his efforts failed that it was “very frustrating” that the Senate refused to act. He said GOP senators weren’t willing to stand up to President Donald Trump.

“It’s the climate we’re in right now, where they are closing their eyes towards obvious violations of human rights, obvious violations of fiscal responsibility, because Donald Trump is trying to make this kind of immigration enforcement the centerpiece of his administration,” Booker said. “He said he would go after the worst of the worst but the people that are dying clearly are not the worst of the worst.”

Booker also blamed the Geo Group, the private company running the detention center under a $1 billion contract. Since Jan. 1, 2025, Geo’s political action committee has contributed $1.3 to federal candidates and committees, more than 80% to Republicans, according to the Federal Election Commission and the research group OpenSecrets.

“I am stunned that they’re shoveling over a billion dollars to a private contractor and not holding them accountable for what we’re seeing as record levels of people dying in immigration facilities,” Booker said. “This is just in every way just unacceptable that they’re allowing this to go on and not demanding that this stop.”

He called it “straight out greed.” 

“This company is making so much money,” he said. “This company has given so many millions in campaign contributions and so they seem to be allowed to escape the most basic levels of accountability.”