Overview:
Haitian asylum seeker died days after being launched from jail into an ICE monitoring program in Pittsburgh. Her demise raises questions on federal supervision practices and comes amid an increase in deaths linked to immigration detention.
A Haitian asylum seeker was discovered unresponsive at a Pittsburgh bus shelter days after she was launched from jail and positioned underneath digital monitoring by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, WTAE Pittsburgh confirmed Friday.
Daphy Michel, 31, died March 2 after upkeep staff found her at a bus shelter, based on Port Authority Police.
Officers tried life-saving measures, together with CPR, an automatic exterior defibrillator and Narcan earlier than she was transported to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in essential situation. Docs later advised her household she suffered cardiac arrest. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner has not launched an official reason for demise.
Michel’s brother, Carlo Michel, who spoke to WTAE, stated he realized of her demise when a hospital contacted him asking if he acknowledged her title.
Michel had been held almost six months within the Washington County Jail in Washington, Pennsylvania, on a $10,000 bond.
Court docket information present a neighbor reported in September that Michel was experiencing important psychological well being episodes. Her preliminary listening to was postponed seven occasions whereas she awaited a psychological well being analysis, based on the Washington County Public Defender’s Workplace.
On Feb. 26, a choose dismissed two misdemeanor expenses of harassment and threats.
Carlo Michel stated he anticipated his sister to be launched shortly afterward.
“On the courtroom, I noticed my sister. I noticed Daphy. She wasn’t having any downside,” he stated via an interpreter in an interview with Pittsburgh’s Motion Information 4.
As a substitute, he obtained a name from a health care provider on March 2 informing him that she had died.
ICE positioned her in monitoring program
The Washington County Public Defender’s Workplace stated Michel had an ICE detainer on her file, which means immigration authorities requested notification earlier than she was launched from jail.
ICE confirmed Michel was processed Feb. 27 at its Enforcement and Elimination Operations workplace in Pittsburgh and enrolled within the company’s Options to Detention program.
This system permits people with pending immigration circumstances to stay exterior detention whereas complying with supervision necessities, which might embrace digital ankle displays.
Michel was fitted with an ankle monitor.
Immigration lawyer Joseph Murphy, who’s aiding the household, stated the system was probably put in via the Intensive Supervision Look Program workplace on Jane Road in Pittsburgh.
“What confuses everyone is the in-between half,” Murphy stated. “She was advised the fees had been dismissed and he or she can be launched. Then 4 days later, the household will get a name that she’s lifeless.”
ICE stated it obtained a tamper alert from Michel’s digital monitoring system on March 3, indicating the strap had been eliminated. By that point, her physique had already been taken to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Workplace.
Authorities haven’t defined the place Michel went or what occurred within the days between her launch and when she was discovered on the bus shelter. She lived about an hour away from the ICE workplace the place she was processed.
Immigration case was pending
Michel entered america via a authorized port of entry in Brownsville, Texas, on Dec. 14, 2022 and was paroled into the nation for humanitarian causes, based on ICE.
After arriving within the U.S., she filed a request for political asylum.
The Government Workplace for Immigration Evaluation confirmed Michel had an immigration listening to scheduled in Florida on April 16.
Her brother stated she got here to america hoping to construct a safer life.
“She got here right here in search of life,” he stated.
Loss of life provides to considerations over ICE detention
Michel’s demise comes amid rising considerations over deaths related to immigration detention and enforcement.
Earlier this month, Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian man, died in an immigration detention facility in Florence, Arizona, after a tooth an infection, his household stated, went untreated.
Damas was the third Haitian reported lifeless in ICE custody since April 2025.
Jean-Wilson Brutus, 41, died in December 2025 shortly after getting into the Delaney Corridor detention heart in Newark, New Jersey. Marie Ange Blaise, 44, died in April 2025 on the Broward Transitional Middle in Florida following allegations of insufficient medical care.
ICE recorded 32 deaths in custody in 2025 — the best quantity in additional than 20 years.
For Michel’s household, many questions stay about what occurred within the days earlier than she was discovered unresponsive on the Pittsburgh bus shelter.