ICE detainee deaths in Moshannon and Delaney Hall spark outcry among immigration advocates

The deaths of four undocumented immigrants being held in federal detention facilities, including Delaney Hall Detention Facility in New Jersey and Monshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, have sparked an outcry among immigration advocates and a U.S. senator.

Haitian-born Jean Wilson Brutus, 41, died of what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it suspects were natural causes while in Delaney Hall on Dec. 12. Advocates believe he is the first detainee to die in Delaney. He had been taken into custody the day before.

“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,” said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), who has introduced legislation to end the use of private prisons to detain immigrants and condemned the “inhumane conditions” at Delaney Hall.

Two days after Brutus’ death, ICE said, Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir, born in Saudi Arabia and an Eritrean citizen, complained of chest pain in Moshannon.

The agency said Moshannon staff performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the 42-year-old in the facility’s medical department until emergency medical responders arrived and pronounced him dead. Pennsylvania State Police and the Clearfield County coroner are investigating the death.

Abdulkadir, known as Imam Fouad, had been in custody for 215 days, according to ICE.

ICE did not immediately report more details about Abdulkadir’s health, but a fundraiser for his funeral claims the Ohio Islamic leader had been pleading for medical care for over a year.

The agency said Brutus had no signs of distress when he was brought into Delaney Hall, nor did he have a history of cardiovascular issues.

Advocates with the Shut Down Detention Campaign, a coalition of immigration advocacy groups calling for Moshannon’s closure, called the rise in deaths of detainees a “predictable outcome.”

They say the increase in fatalities runs parallel to the rise in immigration arrests as President Donald Trump mounts his mass deportation plans. The latest federal data available reported more than 65,000 immigrants were detained as of November, a two-thirds increase since Trump retook office.

» READ MORE: More than 65,000 immigrants are being held in federal detention, a big increase from when Trump took office

“Four lives lost in one week. This is not coincidence, it is policy and it is systemic,” said the Shut Down Detention Campaign in a statement. “Prisons, such as ICE detention centers are sites of neglect, isolation, retaliation, and death.”

In announcing the deaths, ICE said that comprehensive medical care is provided to detainees and that the agency is committed to “ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments.”

Despite ICE’s assurances, claims of overcrowding, along with inadequate healthcare and food, have plagued federal detention centers since before Trump took office.

» READ MORE: Inside Pa.’s largest immigrant detention center: Violence, desperation, little oversight

Oversight of these facilities under the Trump administration, however, has diminished. The Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which was investigating conditions at Moshannon under the previous administration, was essentially dismantled along with other watchdogs.

Earlier this year, Chaofeng Ge, 32, was found dead in the shower room of his detention stall. The Clearfield County coroner ruled the death a suicide.

The recent spate of deaths means more than 20 people have died in ICE custody this year, according to the agency’s required reporting. That compares with 11 deaths in 2024 and seven in 2023. An NPR analysis found 2025 already has the most deaths of ICE detainees since a 2004 peak of 32 fatalities.

ICE said Brutus entered the country through Hidalgo, Texas, in 2023 and was paroled, pending immigration proceedings. But he began to have trouble with the law in 2024. Between July and October, police in Elizabeth, N.J., arrested Brutus for criminal trespassing three times, releasing him each time.

The Elizabeth Police Department arrested Brutus two more times this November — once for criminal trespassing and another time on two counts of criminal mischief and property damage. ICE says despite an immigration detainer, Brutus was released both times in November.

ICE arrested Brutus on Dec. 11. He died the next day.

Abdulkadir had a very different experience. He became a permanent resident in 2018, according to ICE, but was convicted in April 2024 of wire fraud and theft of public money. Prosecutors said he underreported his income to fraudulently claim more than $80,000 from Ohio’s Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Medicaid benefits.

He was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Months later, ICE issued a separate immigration detainer and warrant for his arrest. ICE said Abdulkadir had remained in its custody since, pending a hearing with the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

The two other people who died in ICE custody had been held at Adams County Detention Center in Mississippi and North Lake Processing Center in Michigan.