A Haitian man confined at an Arizona immigration detention center for months died at a hospital Monday after a tooth infection was left untreated, the man’s brother said.
Emmanuel Damas, 56, had been living in Massachusetts and was seeking asylum prior to his detention, according to U.S. Sen. Ed Markey.
Damas told medical personnel at the Florence Correctional Center that he had a toothache in mid-February, but he was not sent to a dentist, according to his brother Presly Nelson.
On Feb. 20, Markey said Damas’s family found out from a nearby hospital that he had pneumonia and was on life support. He returned to federal detention a few days later, only to be hospitalized again and scheduled for surgery. He died on March 2.
Nelson believes staff at the facility did not take his brother’s complaints seriously, even though he had a treatable condition. Nelson said he would expect such a death in countries with less access to health care, but not in the United States.
“As a country — I’m an American now — I think we can do better than that,” Nelson said.
Markey slammed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the agency failed to provide appropriate medical care.
“His death in ICE custody is a terrible tragedy. I’ve been working with his family to uncover the truth. We must demand full accountability from ICE for his death,” Markey posted on social media.
Markey, along with his Democratic colleagues U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley sent a letter on Thursday to the Trump administration demanding “a full investigation” into Damas’s death.
In their letter, the lawmakers claimed the Department of Homeland Security is failing to adhere to its own guidance on medical care of detainees.
“As Mr. Damas’s death tragically highlights, individuals in ICE’s custody are not treated in accordance with the standards governing ICE’s conduct.”
Damas is among at least nine people who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this year.
DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Earlier Wednesday, ICE officials announced the death of Mexican national Alberto Gutierrez-Reyes, who had been in a California ICE detention center and died in the hospital Feb. 27 after reporting chest pain and shortness of breath.
Christine Ellis, a registered nurse and a city councilor in Chandler, Arizona, said she was contacted by Damas’s family after his death.
“As a medical person, I am absolutely appalled that there were medical-licensed people that were working there and allowed those things to happen,” Ellis, who is Haitian American, said. “It does not make sense to me.”
A report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Damas’s cause of death as “pending” as of Wednesday.
Damas was taken into ICE custody in September and was soon transferred to the medium-security Florence Correctional Center, where he was held for several months, including after his asylum application was denied, Ellis said.
CoreCivic, a for-profit corrections company that runs the Florence facility, deferred comment to ICE.
With reporting by The Associated Press’s Jacques Billeaud and the WBUR newsroom.