ICE reports death of Delaney Hall detainee

By Alvin Wu
Domestic Affairs
ICE reports death of Delaney Hall detainee

Protesters and clergy hold a vigil outside of Delaney Hall on Dec. 22 following the death of Jean Wilson Brutus, a detainee. ST. BARTHOLOMEW LUTHERAN CHURCH/Social Media

NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 27 (ZFJ) — Jean Wilson Brutus, 41, died in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Newark, N.J, on Dec. 12, from “suspected natural causes.”

ICE says in a press release that they arrested Brutus on Dec. 11 and held him in the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, where he experienced a medical emergency. Local EMS was called and took him to University Hospital, also in Newark, where he was pronounced dead the next day.

ICE says that Brutus entered the country illegally from Haiti in 2023 and was given parole under former President Joe Biden’s administration pending immigration proceedings.

ICE says he was then arrested by the Elizabeth Police Department several times in 2024 and 2025 for criminal trespassing and criminal mischief related to property damage. The ZFJ has contacted Elizabeth municipal authorities asking if they can confirm these arrests. The ZFJ did not find Brutus in the state judiciary’s criminal case and criminal judgment online records.

Brutus was arrested by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Newark office. ICE says that he “had no signs of distress during intake nor a medical history of cardiovascular issues.”

ICE has notified the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Haitian consulate of the death, per agency policy.

Brutus’ death marks the first time a detainee has died while held at Delaney Hall since the private immigration detention center, operated by GEO Group, reopened under Donald Trump’s administration this year.

ICE’s website says that the agency posts news releases about detainee deaths within two business days online per agency policy and posts in custody death reports within 90 days online per federal law. The news release about Brutus was posted on Dec. 18—four business days, and almost a week, after his death.

The New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU-NJ) said that activists saw two ambulances respond to Delaney Hall on Dec. 11. Paramedics brought a man, later reported to be Brutus, out on a stretcher.

ACLU-NJ says that activists observed GEO Group employees prioritizing an arriving van of new detainees over EMS, making the ambulances wait five minutes before guards opened the facility’s gate to allow them to go to the hospital.

U.S. Reps. LaMonica McIver of N.J.’s 10th congressional district, Yvette Clarke of New York’s 9th district, and Rob Menendez of N.J.’s 8th district conducted an oversight visit at Delaney Hall on Dec. 23. Following the visit, the congressmen issued statements condemning the conditions in the facility and calling for accountability.

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