Death of Delaney Hall detainee fuels calls to close Newark ICE facility
A 41-year-old undocumented Haitian man died Dec. 12 after he was in federal custody at the controversial immigrant detention center in Newark, sparking calls from activists and prominent Democrats to close the embattled facility once and for all.
Jean Wilson Brutus had been at Delaney Hall on Doremus Avenue for a day when he died from “suspected natural causes,” according to a press release issued by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Public Affairs six days after the man’s death.
The agency had grabbed Brutus the day before after he was released from Union County Jail in Elizabeth, where authorities held him following a criminal mischief arrest, according to ICE.
At some point, Brutus suffered a medical emergency. Delaney officials called local EMS workers, who tried to save his life and transported him to University Hospital in Newark.
But Brutus, who, according to ICE, showed “no signs of distress during intake nor a medical history of cardiovascular issues” didn’t make it. Hospital workers later pronounced him dead.
His passing sent shock waves through the local community, and frustrated politicians demanded immediate action.
“For months, I have condemned the inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall and the mismanagement of this facility by its private operator, GEO Group. Now, this tragic death has compounded the long and grotesque list of atrocities the GEO Group is committing,” U.S. Sen. Cory Booker wrote in a statement.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s continued refusal to comply with appropriate oversight of this facility and the GEO Group’s abuses [is] totally unacceptable,” Booker said. “There must be a clear accounting of what happened in this tragedy, and Delaney Hall must be closed so this stain can be removed from our community of Newark.”
Immigration advocates like Kathy O’Leary of Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace organization, shared Booker’s outrage.
“No one should die in ICE detention,” O’Leary wrote in her email newsletter, which also called for protests in the wake of the Haitian man’s death. “We owe it to Jean Wilson Brutus and all of our neighbors caged by ICE to demand accountability. Refusing to diminish and choosing rather to uplift Jean Wilson Brutus’s humanity is a powerful act of resistance.”
Rep. LaMonica McIver, a Democrat who represents Newark as part of the state’s 10th Congressional District, issued a scathing statement that lambasted the feds for their alleged lack of concern over immigrant lives.
“The Trump administration has shown a complete disregard for human rights, human dignity, and human life,” McIver said. “This tragedy is not an isolated incident, and we have seen neglect, abuse, and cruelty from this administration as they strip people of the rights this country affords everyone, including those in detention.”
“I want to know exactly what happened, the circumstances of this individual’s confinement and treatment, and what care he did or did not receive,” she said. “Delaney Hall must be closed immediately, and a full, independent investigation needs to take place.”
Gov. Phil Murphy called the death “troubling,” and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of the state’s 12th Congressional District tied what happened in Newark to broader problems across the ICE detention system.
“Reports of negligence and abuse have emerged from ICE facilities around the country and are indicative of the Trump Administration’s complete disregard for basic standards of health and safety of detainees. This has been on display at Delaney Hall since it opened this past Spring,” Watson Coleman said.
“The warnings made by myself, my congressional colleagues, the mayor, and others have been met by DHS with dismissal and frivolous legal action. Consequences of the administration’s belligerent enforcement and utter disregard for the health or legal rights of detainees continue to mount,” she said. “This incident should be thoroughly investigated and Delaney Hall should immediately be closed. I encourage my Congressional colleagues from both parties to actively engage their Constitutional duty of oversight at facilities around the country.”
Christopher Ferreira, GEO Group’s director of corporate relations, ignored a series of questions Monday about Brutus’ death and instead referred inquiries to ICE.
An ICE spokesperson declined to comment beyond the agency’s initial statement, which said 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,” reads the statement.
But Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin seemed less than accommodating in a statement to Politico, claiming “sanctuary politicians need to stop with the smears.”
“This is the best health care that many aliens have received in their entire lives,” she said. “Sen. Booker and Rep. McIver should be grateful this holiday season that criminal illegal aliens are in Delaney Hall instead of loose in New Jersey communities.”
That’s less than comforting for Brutus’ family, who told NBC New York there’s been no closure since his death.
“He was like a brother,” cousin Evans Belony told the network. “We do want transparency; we do want accountability. We do want justice.”
A “troubling” death
Brutus’ death, the first reported at Delaney Hall, is another black eye for the embattled detention center, a 1,000-bed facility near the northern tip of Newark Bay meant to house undocumented people swept up in the Trump administration’s ever-expanding immigration raids.
A mammoth fortress circled by high fences and barbed wire, the facility opened in May after ICE officials signed a 15-year, $1 billion contract with GEO Group to run it.
But the facility has drawn all the wrong kinds of attention in recent months over its allegedly squalid conditions, which include inedible food, undrinkable water, random meal times, problems with prescription drug distribution, an erratic visiting schedule, and hostile, retaliatory guards, among many other things.
The conditions led to a riot back in June, during which four men escaped. Officials, most of whom are Democrats who fundamentally disagree with the administration’s goals and the course it’s charted to achieve them, have repeatedly raised concerns about the facility.
“From what I saw today, people are not being treated with the level of dignity they deserve,” U.S. Sen. Andy Kim told The Jersey Vindicator as he stood outside the complex on a snowy December Sunday. “That’s why I continue to call for this facility to be closed … This place has no place here in New Jersey.”
The GEO Group has fought the allegations, claiming they’re “part of a politically motivated effort to interfere with federal immigration enforcement by attacking the federal government’s contractors,” Ferreira, the spokesman, said in an email last week.
Delaney’s average daily population reportedly topped out around 800 people last month, and nine out of 10 detainees have no criminal record.
Brutus, however, was well known to local police before his death.
He’d been arrested at least four times in New Jersey for criminal trespassing since he’d crossed the border into Texas in June 2023, according to ICE. Immigration officials had paroled him pending a court hearing.
The Elizabeth police arrested Brutus once more on Nov. 28 on a pair of criminal mischief charges that included property damage, the agency said.
Once he was released, ICE seized him on Dec. 11 and sent him to Delaney Hall.
He died the next day.
The condemnations quickly rolled in, with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka — who was arrested outside Delaney during a May visit — writing in a social media post that Brutus’ death was distressing and “brings up a host of 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 well-being of the detainees, tempts some disgusting speculation on the immorality of stripping human beings of their innate dignity,” he said.
Amy Torres, executive director of New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, added that Brutus’ death is an outgrowth of the president’s brutal immigration policies.
“Let’s make one thing clear: Jean Wilson Brutus didn’t die because there wasn’t enough oversight at Delaney Hall, He didn’t die because the GEO Group has insufficient resources for food or care. He also didn’t die because people in his community didn’t care or weren’t paying attention to the issue,” Torres said.
“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,” she continued. “Jean Wilson Brutus died because America now sees immigrants as subhuman. He died because corporations like GEO Group see him as a line item in an Excel sheet.”
If this reporting helped you understand something important about New Jersey, consider supporting it.
The Jersey Vindicator is an independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on accountability and transparency. Our reporting is funded by readers — not corporations, political insiders, or big advertisers.
Reader support makes this work possible — and helps ensure it continues.
Steve Janoski is a multi-award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Post, USA Today, the Associated Press, The Bergen Record and the Asbury Park Press. His reporting has exposed corruption, government malfeasance and police misconduct