Emmanuel Damas, 56, died in a hospital Monday after a tooth infection was left untreated while he was held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Arizona’s Florence Correctional Center, his brother said. Presly Nelson, speaking about his brother’s confinement, said Emmanuel Damas was taken into ICE custody in September and later transferred to the medium-security Florence facility, where he remained for months.
Nelson said his brother reported a toothache to medical personnel at the Florence Correctional Center in mid-February but was not sent to a dentist. Nelson said he believed facility staff did not take his brother’s complaints seriously, even though, he argued, the condition was treatable. “As a country — I’m an American now — I think we can do better than that,” Nelson said.
Damas died at the hospital after the infection was not addressed in custody, his brother said. A report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Damas’ cause of death as “pending” as of Wednesday, according to the account.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment, and the reporting said ICE had hoped to issue a news release Wednesday. CoreCivic, the for-profit corrections company that runs the Florence facility, deferred comment to ICE.
The case adds to a broader set of deaths that year in ICE custody, with Nelson’s account noting Damas was among at least nine people who have died in ICE custody this year. 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.
Chandler City Council member Christine Ellis, who is a registered nurse and is Haitian American, said she was contacted by Damas’ family after his death. Ellis said, “As a medical person, I am absolutely appalled that there were medical-licensed people that were working there and allowed those things to happen,” adding, “It does not make sense to me.”
Ellis said Damas was held at Florence for several months that included time after his asylum application was denied. The reporting also said Damas’ confinement continued through the period in which he told medical staff about his toothache, according to his brother’s account.