NJ Immigrant Detainee Dies In ICE Custody, Sparking Outcry From Advocates

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An immigration detainee at Delaney Hall in New Jersey died while in federal custody last week, igniting an outcry from advocates – despite authorities’ claims that he passed away from “suspected natural causes.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed that Jean Wilson Brutus, 41, died at University Hospital in Newark on Dec. 12.

Brutus, a Haitian native accused of entering the country illegally, was arrested on Dec. 11 and imprisoned at Delaney Hall.

According to ICE, Brutus had “no signs of distress” during intake and didn’t have a medical history of cardiovascular issues.

Brutus experienced a medical emergency after Delaney Hall and a local EMS crew was called to the prison. Emergency responders performed life-saving measures and transported Brutus to the hospital. He was pronounced dead on Dec. 12.

Authorities have notified the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the Haitian consulate about Brutus’ death, as required by agency policy.

Federal authorities began housing detainees at Delaney Hall in Newark on May 1. The 1,000-bed facility is located in Newark. It was the first federal detention center to open under President Donald Trump’s second term.

The facility’s owner, the GEO Group – one of the largest private prison companies in the nation – was awarded a 15-year contract that it valued at $1 billion to run the new detention center.

A month after the prison reopened, four detainees at Delaney Hall escaped, breaking through a second-story wall, jumping onto mattresses and climbing over an outside fence. Each faced charges for alleged crimes in New Jersey, including assault, possession of a weapon and burglary.

>> READ MORE: Here’s How ICE Detainees Escaped Prison In New Jersey, Feds Say

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka called Brutus’ death “distressing” and said it brings up several “disturbing questions.”

“Newark’s documented history of Geo Group and ICE’s complete lack of transparency, and their demonstrated disregard for laws that ensure the safety and wellbeing of the detainees, tempts some disgusting speculation on the immorality of stripping human beings of their innate dignity,” Baraka said Friday.

“I didn’t know Mr. Brutus, nor do I know the circumstances of his death, but I do know the pain of losing a loved one,” the mayor added, offering his condolences to Brutus’ family.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a Newark resident, also commented on Brutus’ death.

“There must be a clear accounting of what happened in this tragedy, and Delaney Hall must be closed so that this stain can be removed from our community of Newark,” Booker said.

Meanwhile, local immigration advocates are demanding an immediate investigation into the death, alleging that there have been “documented patterns of inadequate care” and “dangerous conditions” inside the privately operated prison.

• See Related: Essex Commissioners Demand Action At Controversial ICE Prison

“Jean Wilson Brutus died because immigration detention exists for one reason: to make immigrants into political scapegoats and support an agenda fueled by racism and profit,” said Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.

“There is nothing natural about dying in a detention center,” agreed Catalina Adorno, a volunteer with Movimiento Cosecha.

Patch reached out to the Geo Group seeking comment about the death and allegations from activists. A spokesperson referred questions to the official statement from ICE.

• See Related: Detainee Population Surges At ICE Prison In NJ After It Reopens Under Trump
• See Related: Refugee Jailed In NJ Followed Legal Process, Faces Deportation Anyway

'A HUMAN BEING HAS DIED'

According to ICE, the deceased man entered the United States illegally in June 2023 at the Hidalgo Port of Entry in Hidalgo, Texas. He was then paroled into the country, pending immigration proceedings.

The Elizabeth Police Department arrested Brutus four times on charges of criminal trespassing between July 2024 and November 2025. He was also arrested on two counts of criminal mischief on Nov. 28, and released from Union County Jail in Elizabeth.

Brutus received appropriate medical care while imprisoned at Delaney Hall, federal authorities claimed in their official statement:

“ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental, and mental health intake screenings within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility; a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody, or arrival at a facility; access to medical appointments; and 24-hour emergency care. At no time during detention is a detained alien denied emergency care.”

Activists are telling a different story, however.

Eyes on ICE, a coalition of immigration advocates that have been holding daily vigils outside Delaney Hall, released a scathing statement about Brutus’ death on Friday.

“I was going through the visitor check-in process when I overheard one of the guards’ walkie-talkies,” said a volunteer with the group, who was visiting another detainee at the prison on Dec. 11.

“I heard: ‘Medical emergency at intake, seizure – Call 911,’” she recalled.

Advocates said they saw Brutus being taken out of the facility on a stretcher. However, when he was being transported to the hospital, GEO Group employees prioritized a van of newly detained arrivals coming into the facility.

It took almost five minutes to open the gate for the ambulances, activists alleged.

“A human being has died under government control,” said Katy Sastre, executive director of First Friends of New Jersey and New York.

“Yet, ICE’s public response reads less like accountability and more like an attempt to justify his death, offering no real information about what happened or what medical care he received, while foregrounding criminalizing details as if that’s what the public should focus on,” Sastre criticized.

“No one should lose their life simply because of their immigration paperwork,” agreed Sally Pillay, executive director with the Mami Chelo Foundation.

• See Related: Dozens Of NJ Teachers Back Immigrant Trust Act: ‘Things Are Not Normal’

“Jean Wilson Brutus came to this country seeking a future as a New American, and instead was caged by ICE and spent his last days in Delaney Hall,” said Charlene Walker, executive director of Faith in New Jersey.

“We will not accept a system that treats our beloved as disposable,” Walker said.

Other advocates who spoke about Brutus’ death included:

Sister Susan Francois of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace – “Immigration and detention center officials have a duty of care for those they detain. The statement from ICE on the death of Mr. Brutus focuses on his alleged crimes rather than the government's repeated failure to provide humane treatment at Delaney Hall. His death is a tragedy, as is all loss of human life. We cannot be silent in the face of the cruelty being done in our name.”

Kathy O’Leary of Pax Christi USA, leader with Eyes on ICE – “Let us open our hearts so that we can see through all the walls, fences, barbed wire, and dehumanizing language and remember that Jean Wilson Brutus was a human being loved by God.”

Adam McGovern of Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center – “Who you are and where you came from are things to be proud of in a diverse country, not a cause for a summary death sentence by a system set up to evade accountability and profit from depriving people of their rights.”

PRISON CONDITIONS

Advocates have been holding repeated protests and rallies outside Delaney Hall in Newark since it reopened, alleging that the detainees – and people trying to visit them – are facing “inhumane” treatment.

In October, several members of the Essex County Board of Commissioners sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem about Delaney Hall.

The commissioners claimed that conditions inside the prison are getting “increasingly more concerning,” with reports allegedly including lockdowns that last for days, verbal abuse from guards, inaccessible commissary funds and blocked phone numbers.

The League of Women Voters of New Jersey has also issued some scathing allegations about conditions at the prison, reporting that there has been “severe overcrowding” and other issues at Delaney Hall.

Other complaints have included claims of bad food and subpar access to medical care – allegations that the GEO Group has previously denied.

“We remain dedicated to providing high-quality services to those in our care, including include around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, translation services, dietician-approved meals, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs,” a spokesperson told Patch.

According to the company’s website, all of its ICE processing centers are independently accredited by the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

The company's assurances haven't stopped the complaints from advocates and local officials, however.

“You should be ashamed of this facility and the treatment of those being detained here,” the commissioners' letter says. “The detainees of Delaney Hall deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as they await a trial, not treated inhumanely.”

Advocates have also criticized the visitation process for people waiting to see their family members. Visitors say they have been forced to stand outside on a shadeless sidewalk this summer amid scorching temperatures in one of the state’s worst “urban heat islands,” and kept waiting outside in a torrential storm near a metal fence this fall.

• See Related: Visitors To ICE Prison Forced To Wait Near Metal Fence During Storm

After visitors complained about the conditions, a shelter with a roof was erected outside next to the parking lot. It got a thumbs down from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a Newark resident.

“This ‘canopy’ is offensive,” Booker wrote. “The GEO Group reported revenue of $1.92 billion in the first nine months of 2025, including a contract to operate Delaney Hall Detention Center for the next 15 years. This is all they provide taxpaying New Jerseyans trying to visit their loved ones in rainy, cold and windy conditions.”

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On the flip side of the coin, some Republican politicians – including U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew – have claimed that detainees at the controversial facility are being “treated with dignity” and are being housed in a place that “exceeds the standards of many of our own U.S. prisons.”

“This is not about politics,” the congressman argued during a House Judiciary session in May. “This is about public safety. This is about law and order. This is about whether the United States of America still has the will to enforce its own laws.”

Van Drew criticized former president Joe Biden, accusing his administration of allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to cross the southwest border illegally.

“The only bright side of this chaos is that the American people made their choices overwhelmingly clear by rejecting these chaotic and terrible policies,” he said. “They removed President Biden and border-czar Harris and gave Republicans control of the House, the Senate and the presidency. And now, President Trump is back in office and finally doing what should have been done years ago: restoring order, rebuilding capacity and demanding accountability.”

Although the focus on federal immigration enforcement has ramped up since Trump took office, large-scale ICE raids also took place in New Jersey during Biden’s term.

The agency’s Newark field office processes federal detainees from across the state. Prior to New Jersey’s ban on ICE contracts, hundreds of people were being arrested and deported from the office every month.

A major immigration sweep took place in North Jersey the week before Trump’s inauguration, with ICE’s Newark field office arresting 33 non-citizens who have committed or been accused of crimes.

• Read More: ICE In NJ Deported 500 People From Country In 3 Months, Feds Say

IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

President Trump has insisted that a nationwide crackdown is needed to push back against a “large-scale invasion” of illegal immigration.

As part of his campaign platform in 2024, Trump vowed to immediately launch a nationwide immigration crackdown as soon as he was elected. His administration didn’t waste any time making its first moves. On his first day in office, the White House announced a sweeping wave of presidential actions and executive orders – including several involving immigration.

“Our southern border is overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries, and illicit narcotics that harm Americans,” Trump declared.

• See Related: ICE Arrests 4 Convicted Child Sex Offenders In New Jersey
• See Related: ICE Arrests Wanted Homicide Suspect In Essex County, Officials Say

ICE Homeland Security Investigations Newark and FBI Newark recently formed a Homeland Security Task Force, which contributed to a nationwide total of more than 3,200 arrests of “foreign terrorists, narcotraffickers and violent criminals” between Aug. 25 and Oct. 7, authorities said.

“By bringing together federal, state, and local resources within a single operational framework, we are strengthening New Jersey’s defenses, accelerating intelligence-driven investigations, and ensuring that criminal networks have nowhere to hide,” Homeland Security Investigations Newark special agent in charge Michael McCarthy said.

Advocates and family members of ICE detainees have pushed back against the claim that most of the immigrants imprisoned at facilities like Delaney Hall are “criminals,” however. They include a New Jersey resident, whose 29-year-old cousin was arrested in a high-profile immigration raid at a seafood distributor in Newark last year.

“My primo is the sweetest, kindest, most hardworking person you’ll ever meet,” she told NJ Advance Media, adding that he “pays all his bills on time, has never gotten into any trouble and is the type of person to do just about everything right.”

• See Related: Man Arrested In Newark ICE Raid Isn’t A Criminal, Cousin Says

According to data from the Department of Homeland Security, about 90 percent of the 807 people detained at Delaney Hall do not have criminal records, NJ Spotlight News reported.

ICE also houses federal detainees at another private prison in New Jersey: the Elizabeth Detention Facility in Union County.

The prison – which is run by CoreCivic – held a daily average of 287 prisoners on Nov. 10, according to the TRAC database. About 80 percent do not have criminal records, NJ Spotlight News reported.

• See Related: NJ Prison Gets Surprise Visit From 3 Congress Members After ICE Raid

Many of the recent immigration raids in New Jersey have involved workplaces.

In July, several people were taken into custody during an immigration enforcement operation at a wine and spirits warehouse in Edison. Later that month, 15 people were detained by ICE on their way to work at a local landscaping company in Princeton. And in October, federal authorities took 46 people into custody during an inspection at a container freight station in Woodbridge.

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