Granted, he had been deported once and re-entered the country through the border, and, granted, he had been living and working here without legal authorization, but, still, when he was detained by ICE pending removal, he should have still received the essential medications he had been taking.
Picked up in Plainfield June 18, denied his meds, he died just a month later. Edwin Lopez-Cornejo isn’t the only person to have died in ICE custody at Delaney Hall. Eight months ago, Jean Wilson Brutus was taken to University Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
However, ICE has refused to release medical records or to answer questions regarding medical treatment or the lack of it. The pattern of detainee deaths across the country is disturbing. The lack of care is more than mere negligence. You and I, taxpayers, are funding the private contractor GEO $165 per day per detainee bed. The care we give the most vulnerable says something about us. What does this say?
Prayer for the Day
We know, O God, what is required of us, yet we falter;
We know, O Lord, what we need to do, yet we hesitate;
We see injustice and use helplessness as an excuse,
But you tug at our sleeves and call us to respond.
Move us, O Holy Spirit, beyond the excuses we create:
So we may live faithfully according to your Gospel.
We ask this in the name of the One who calls us to do justice,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
If nightmares can become reality, why can't dreams?...I imagine a future where immigration prisons do not exist.
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, Migrating to Prison
I daydream about reclaiming some of those moments by sharing the simplest things with her. What would it be like for us to go to HomeGoods and pick out a mirror or a little chair? How would it feel to be able to say, "Hey Mami- how would this look in the living room?" Those are the little things I miss...”
Diane Guerrero, from In the Country We Love: My Family Divided
Hear aa just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit;
From you let my vindication come;
Let your eyes see the right.
Psalm 17: 1-2