Overview:
The household of Jean-Wilson Brutus, who died inside 24 hours of getting into ICE custody, has retained civil rights attorneys to launch an unbiased investigation. His demise in ICE custody was certainly one of 32 complete deaths in 2025, the very best quantity recorded by the company since 2004.
NEWARK — Kin of Jean Wilson Brutus, who died in December shortly after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New Jersey, has employed civil rights attorneys to launch an unbiased investigation and post-mortem. The attorneys are looking for any assist from the general public to look into the “mysterious demise” of Wilson, 41, which occurred throughout what studies point out is the deadliest 12 months for detainee deaths in twenty years.
The transfer alerts a direct problem to the official narrative offered by federal authorities concerning the occasions at Delaney Corridor, a privately operated detention middle in Newark, the place Brutus first fell ailing.
“[The family] is popping to our corporations as a result of they’ve been unable to get solutions from ICE concerning Mr. Brutus’ demise,” the attorneys, Oliver T. Barry and Joseph M. Champagne, stated collectively in a press launch final week.
“What they do know is {that a} completely wholesome 41-year-old doesn’t enter a secure, correctly and professionally run detention facility and inside lower than a day is in a physique bag.”
Brutus is the second Haitian particular person recognized to have died in ICE custody in 2025, in line with the company’s Detainee Death Reporting page. Their deaths occurred throughout what has turn into the deadliest 12 months for ICE detainees in twenty years, in line with company information analyzed by Information media. In 2025, The Guardian reported, 32 individuals died in ICE custody, matching the earlier file set in 2004.
“Wilson got here in the hunt for security. His story can not finish right here.”
The surge in fatalities comes because the company ramped up detention to satisfy the Trump administration’s mass deportation objectives, reaching almost 70,000 individuals in custody by mid-December. Human rights teams level to the December figures as significantly alarming, noting that seven individuals died in that month alone, the deadliest single month of that 12 months.
“We’re dedicated to discovering out what occurred to him, not only for our household however for everybody in our nation dwelling in worry of masked federal brokers coming to take them or their family members away from their houses and households,” the household stated by means of the attorneys’ agency.
Difficult the ICE narrative
The household expressed specific outrage over an ICE press launch that used the headline “Criminal Illegal Alien Passes Away,” which portrays him as a routine offender. Evans Belony, Brutus’s cousin, described the tone as “callous and heartless,” noting that Brutus had fled Haiti to flee the nation’s escalating violence and was looking for security in the USA by submitting for asylum.
ICE and native companies haven’t been forthcoming concerning the particulars of Brutus’s earlier arrests in Elizabeth, sharing solely that they concerned trespassing and destruction of property.
By hiring the civil rights attorneys, the relations goal to seek out out what occurred to Wilson that day and scrutinize the insurance policies of the GEO Group, the non-public firm that operates Delaney Corridor. The attorneys say they may look into staffing ranges, personnel coaching and the standard of medical supervision offered to detainees.
The authorized group has opened a name for proof, urging anybody with info concerning the situations at Delaney Corridor or the precise circumstances of Brutus’s 24-hour detention to contact their places of work at 609-729-1333.
Within the meantime, the household has established a GoFundMe web page to help with funeral prices and the continued bills of their authorized pursuit for solutions.