Woman’s hypothermia death after her release by ICE is ruled a homicide

A medical examiner has ruled the death of a Haitian asylum seeker in Pennsylvania after being released from federal custody a homicide.

Meanwhile, an attorney representing her family said he expects her relatives to sue Immigration and Customs Enforcement in connection with her death, though a spokesperson maintained in an email that the agency had “NOTHING to do with this woman’s death”.

Daphy Michel, 31, died on 2 March. She was found at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh. The local Allegheny county medical examiner’s office found her cause of death to be hypothermia and ruled the manner a homicide, “indicating the death was caused by the actions of another individual”.

A statement from the office – which released its findings on Friday – said that should not be interpreted as a declaration of criminal guilt.

Michel was a native of Haiti who was seeking asylum in the US after arriving at the southern border in 2022, said her family’s attorney, Joseph Patrick Murphy. She was granted humanitarian parole based on urgent humanitarian need, but she did not live to see a hearing scheduled for two weeks after she died, he said.

The medical examiner’s office said Michel was a vulnerable adult “suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier” at the time of her release on 27 February, the office said.

She was arrested last summer for yelling at imaginary people due to her psychiatric challenges, Murphy said. She spent six months in the Washington county jail, where she underwent multiple psychiatric examinations as she awaited her first hearing, he said.

A magistrate said he could not hold her for trial for threatening imaginary people, Murphy said. Afterward, ICE arrested her in her cell, put an ankle monitor on her and took her 25 miles (40km) away to Pittsburgh, where she sat at a bus shelter for days in winter, he said.

“She was in September clothes and it was February, and the weather overwhelmed her and she went into hypothermia,” Murphy said.

The medical examiner’s finding of homicide is different from a criminal charge, meaning “somebody did or failed to do something that brought about her demise”, Murphy said. He said he expected Michel’s family to file a lawsuit against ICE in connection with her death.

In an email, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson, Lauren Bis, said, “ICE had NOTHING to do with this woman’s death. She passed away THREE days after ICE encountered her.”

She called Michel “an illegal alien from Haiti” who was placed in removal proceedings after her arrest.

Michel had all her belongings and a fully charged phone when she was released, with public transportation available, Bis said. ICE learned the day after Michel died that her ankle monitor “had been tampered with”, but county medical examiner staff “refused to cooperate or even talk with” ICE officials, she said.

ICE called the US Marshals Service, who retrieved the ankle monitor but were refused information about Michel’s condition, Bis said. ICE learned of her death through the news media, she said.

In a statement, Sara Innamorato, the Allegheny county executive, called Michel’s death “a tragedy and appears that with a little humanity, it could have been completely avoidable”.

Summer Lee, a Democratic US House member from Pennsylvania, said Michel’s death was preventable and that “she deserved care, shelter, language access, and medical support”.

ICE is no longer reporting the deaths of detainees within 30 days of their release from custody, ending a policy adopted in 2021 during Joe Biden’s presidency.

Health experts say the change will reflect fewer deaths than actually occur without addressing issues in medical care.