Last Wednesday, Nicholas Matthew Scelfo, a 27-year-old from Brooklyn, New York, was arrested outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark after being caught on video threatening to kill an ICE agent and his family.

In the video footage, Scelfo screamed: “I’ll kill your whole fucking family! Your children, your wife, all dead!”

Scelfo admitted he was the individual on video and had seen the footage circulating online prior to his arrest. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacey D. Adams in Newark federal court on June 1, 2026, where he was released on $100,000 bail and prohibited from returning to Delaney Hall.

According to a DOJ press release, Scelfo has been charged with threatening to murder an ICE agent under 18 U.S. Code § 115. The charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

FBI Director Kash Patel stated that facial recognition technology was used within 24 hours to identify Scelfo from the viral video. U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer said: “The defendant threatened a federal law enforcement officer and members of that officer’s family with violence and death.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche added: “Threats against federal officers and their families are serious crimes and will not be tolerated.” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin noted: “Our ICE officers are facing an 8,000% increase in death threats as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists.” FBI Special Agent Stefanie Roddy for the Newark Field Office stated: “Calling for the murder of a federal law enforcement officer and his family is not speech safeguarded by the Constitution; it is a grave criminal offense that will not be tolerated.”