BREAKING: Another Delaney Hall Prisoner Has Died — and ICE Tried to Cover It Up

Guatemalan immigrant Jose Chajon-Raxon was released soon after being detained by ICE — while suffering seizures — and the agency covered it up for weeks

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After a weeks-long investigation, Status Coup can confirm a second ICE prisoner at Delaney Hall in New Jersey has died in just a month—and the Department of Homeland Security and ICE attempted to cover it up.

Jose Chajon-Raxon, a Guatemalan immigrant, was detained at Delaney Hall toward the end of July. Soon after—while still in intake—he suffered seizures. Sources familiar with what happened told Status Coup that after Chajon-Raxon’s medical episode, ICE quickly released him, essentially taking advantage of a loophole, to wash their hands of responsibility for whatever happened to him.

Chajon-Raxon died soon after ICE dumped him.

“This person was put in the ambulance and ICE says ‘OK we’re going to release this person so the jurisdiction changes and says you’re not in ICE custody —so we don’t need to report this death but rather this death will fall on the hospital or the death happened in the ambulance,’” Sally Pillay, an anti-Delaney Hall organizer and immigrant rights activist, told Status Coup on August 4th when she and others were still trying to confirm Jose’s identity and the details of how he died.

DHS claims Chajon-Raxon was released from its custody days after he was detained — on July 22nd — not immediately upon the intake process at Delaney Hall. They also claim he died weeks after his release.

Status Coup’s reporting, as well as ABC News Eyewitness News, contradicts DHS’ claim, finding instead that the controversial ICE prison released Chajon-Raxon almost immediately after detaining him on the same day, and he died soon after his release—not weeks later.

DHS has been caught in an endless sea of lies regarding ICE murdering American citizens, murdering undocumented immigrants, shooting immigrants, and the circumstances of deaths within ICE prisons across America.

In the case of Chajon-Raxon, New Jersey Congressman Rob Menendez explained that ICE is taking advantage of a “loophole” in which they don’t have to report a detainee death—if they release them right before the death.

“Their custody is a particular way of thinking that ICE has in terms of people that are in their custody but they can release them on a discretionary basis; once they do so, they’re no longer responsible for even reporting the death,” Menendez told ABC Eyewitness News. “There’s the information that ICE provides and then what I’ve often found to be a separate reality that we hear from the detained individuals, their families and advocates, and they often don’t line up. I personally choose to believe the detained individuals, their families, rather than ICE.”

THE BOTTOM LINE: ICE covered up the death of Jose Chajon-Raxon, and the public only found out about it due to Rep. Menendez conducting an oversight visit to Delaney Hall; soon after the death of a separate prisoner, Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo.

Before his visit, ICE had covered up Chajon-Raxon’s death and only confirmed it when probed by Menendez. As of the time we’re publishing this story, we don’t know if Chajon-Raxon died en route to the hospital in the ambulance or at the hospital.

Chajon-Raxon’s death occurred shortly before Cornejo, an El Salvadoran man, died on August 1st. Cornejo was deprived of medication while imprisoned in Delaney Hall for his diabetes, seizures, and high blood pressure; he was also denied visitation with his 12-year-old daughter shortly before he died.

Status Coup covered a press conference after he died in which his heartbroken daughter broke down. “I’m going to grow up without a father,” she said. “They refused to give him his medication, and they brushed it off as complaining. They know they're guilty, but they want to lie about it. They’re heartless monsters.”

WATCH OUR COVERAGE IN VIDEOS BELOW:

In total, there have been three deaths of detainees at Delaney Hall over the last nine months — that we know of. In December 2025, Jean Wilson Brutus, a Haitian immigrant, died at Delaney Hall less than 24 hours after being detained.

To this day, there has still been no transparency from DHS as to how Brutus died.

Follow and subscribe to Status Coup’s YouTube for all of the latest breaking news on this continued ICE terror campaign.

Status Coup has reported for a over a year ON-THE-GROUND across America covering Trump’s fascism and ICE terrorism—and we’re INDEPENDENTLY FUNDED! WE NEED MORE SUPPORT OR WE CAN NOT CONTINUE FUNDING THIS ON THE GROUND REPORTING. PLEASE SUPPORT us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month—which is 16 cents a day.

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