Edwin was just 39 when he died in ICE custody due to medical neglect on August first of this year–the second death this year in New Jersey’s notorious Delaney Hall detention center–the first to be opened under the current administration.
Edwin, originally from El Salvador, left his 12 year old daughter, Ashley behind when ICE stole his life from him. He had lived in the US for two decades and he was abducted on June 18th of this year on his way to work in Plainfield New York.
As a detainee, Edwin not only had to live with the knowledge that his medical condition was going unaddressed, but he also may have wondered if he was about to be deported to El Salvador’s lethal CECOT Detention Center as many immigrants have. That’s enough stress to send anyone with a weak heart into cardiac arrest.
Hear more about Edwin and his family at the vigil at St. Cat’s in Nehalem on Hwy 101 at 8pm this Sunday and in future Sundays this month. Sometimes we sing, sometimes we hold silence, but we always bring a candle to hold, and we always say the names of the recently deceased.
We will not let this become the new normal in this country, proudly made of and built by immigrants.