Overview:
Kin of Jean Wilson Brutus, who died simply 24 hours after coming into ICE custody in Newark’s Delaney Corridor, are hiring a personal agency for an unbiased post-mortem. The transfer comes amid a nationwide firestorm over immigration enforcement that has led to quite a few fatalities, with advocacy teams demanding that federal authorities cease utilizing deceptive rhetoric to justify aggressive maneuvers.
“He was by no means kicked out, so subsequently he isn’t homeless,” his cousin Evans Beloni mentioned.
NEWARK — A month after Jean Wilson Brutus died inside hours of coming into ICE custody in Newark, his household is looking for an unbiased post-mortem to place to relaxation questions they’ve concerning the sudden dying immigration authorities first mentioned appeared “pure,” then attributable to “unknown” causes and at last “inconclusive.”
Brutus’s kin say they can not discover closure till they’ve a transparent accounting of what occurred contained in the Delaney Corridor Detention Facility in Newark on Dec. 12.
“We’d like one other post-mortem as a result of we’d like readability on what occurred,” his cousin Evans Beloni. “The official one was inconclusive.”
“He was not homeless,” household says
Initially from Croix-des-Bouquets, Brutus’s journey to New Jersey spanned years. He first left Haiti for Brazil in 2018 seeking alternatives. In 2023, he entered the USA by means of the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program.
When he arrived, Brutus went to stay with cousins in Irvington, a city with an estimated 8,000 Haitians as of 2020. The household says he had his room within the house, one they are saying remains to be ready for him.
Nonetheless, within the speedy aftermath of Brutus’s dying, a number of residents additionally posted on-line that they have been shocked to study he had household since they noticed him incessantly close to Elizabeth Avenue, typically sleeping on the pavement.
In a video posted on social media quickly after the dying, native Laviolette Rodemanie, recounted approaching him.
“Each time my household and I requested him if he wanted assist, he mentioned ‘no,’” she mentioned. “Now that he’s gone, he out of the blue has household? We’re asking for justice, however we by no means helped him when he was in want.”
In its information launch about Brutus’s dying, ICE additionally centered on Brutus’s historical past of minor trespassing arrests, labeling him a “felony alien.” ICE officers painted him as a vagrant “felony alien” who had been arrested earlier than on trespassing.
ICE Information Launch: Detainee Loss of life Notification
Topic: Jean Wilson Brutus (41)
Date: December 12, 2025
Location: Newark, New Jersey
Haitian nationwide Jean Wilson Brutus handed away at College Hospital following a medical emergency on the Delaney Corridor Detention Facility. Brutus had been taken into ICE custody on Dec. 11.
Joseph Makhandal Champagne, Jr., the Brutus household’s lawyer, emphasised that such labels and an individual’s potential felony historical past is a distraction from defending elementary rights.
“He had a authorized asylum software that was in progress,” Champagne mentioned. “Being in custody of an official doesn’t negate one’s proper to life, the suitable to medical care, and the suitable to dignity.”
Nationwide tensions over “deceptive narratives”
Lack of transparency in Brutus’s dying is an element of a bigger nationwide dialog concerning the Division of Homeland Safety permitting ICE, which it oversees, to make use of heavy-handed ways to fulfill mass deportation targets. The dying marks the second time this yr {that a} Haitian individual has died in ICE custody and comes amid rising concern over aggressive enforcement actions, prompting requires deeper investigations.
In April 2025, Marie Ange Blaise died in ICE custody in Florida.
On Jan. 7, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, 37, in Minneapolis. An operation in Portland the next day left two individuals wounded, in accordance with the Related Press.
Advocates have denounced federal authorities’ public characterizations of such occasions.
Amy Torres, govt director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, criticized the deal with Brutus’s minor costs.
“Nothing that’s listed in that press launch quantities to one thing that ought to turn out to be a dying sentence,” Torres mentioned in a report by The Monitor about Brutus’ dying.
On Jan. 8, the New York Immigration Coalition issued a rebuke of Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, accusing her of “spouting lies” and utilizing “deceptive narratives” to erode sanctuary metropolis protections for immigrants.
New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh argued that these ways are designed to “incite worry amongst residents” and justify inhumane political agendas. Advocates level to research displaying that sanctuary jurisdictions really expertise fewer crimes than these with out such insurance policies.
Irvington Councilmember Charnette Frederic has expressed frustration over the dearth of transparency.
“Crucial factor for me… is discovering transparency and accountability and giving the household the closure they’re in want of,” Frederic mentioned.
She has since coordinated with Congresswoman LaMonica McIver to hunt a proper rationalization from DHS concerning the medical screening course of at Delaney Corridor.
The Haitian Occasions reached out to ICE and the Essex County Medical Examiner’s Workplace; neither returned messages relating to Brutus’s explanation for dying.