Haitian man dies in US immigration custody

A Haitian man confined at an Arizona immigration detention centre for months died at a hospital after a tooth infection was left untreated, the man’s brother said.

Emmanuel Damas, 56, told medical personnel at the Florence Correctional Centre that he had a toothache in mid-February, but he was not sent to a dentist, said Damas’ brother, Presly Nelson. Nelson believes the staff at the facility did not take his brother’s complaints seriously even though it was a treatable condition.

Nelson said he would expect such a death in countries with less access to health care, but not the United States.  “As a country — I’m an American now — I think we can do better than that,” Nelson said. Damas is among the least nine people who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this year.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. ICE had said it hoped to issue a news release.

ICE officials announced the death of Mexican national Alberto Gutierrez-Reyes, who had been in a California ICE detention centre and died in the hospital Feb. 27 after reporting chest pain and shortness of breath.

Chandler City Council member Christine Ellis, a Haitian American who is a registered nurse, said she was contacted by Damas’ 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 said.

“It does not make sense to me.” A report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Damas’ 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 Centre, 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, did not respond to emails seeking comment.