Overview:
The household of Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian immigrant who died after falling critically unwell in ICE detention, says his ordeal started with a minor home disturbance that led to his arrest and eventual switch to federal immigration custody. Kinfolk say repeated complaints of a tooth an infection have been ignored whereas he was detained in Arizona, resulting in a extreme an infection that unfold by his physique. His demise has sparked concern throughout the Haitian group about how on a regular basis incidents can escalate into immigration enforcement circumstances throughout a interval of heightened deportation efforts.
When Emmanuel Damas arrived in Boston in early 2024, it was presupposed to be the start of a brand new life.
The 56-year-old Haitian father had come to the USA by the humanitarian parole program created to assist Haitians fleeing violence and instability again house. His brothers had spent years constructing a transportation enterprise in Massachusetts and hoped Damas would be part of them and eventually obtain the steadiness he had lengthy struggled to search out in Haiti.
As a substitute, lower than a yr later, Damas died after being hospitalized whereas in federal immigration custody — a tragedy his household says started with a routine neighborhood name that spiraled into a sequence of occasions they by no means imagined.
“It began with one thing small,” stated his brother, Presner Nelson, who lives within the Boston space. “And it ended with my brother shedding his life.”
A small household reunion years within the making
Damas grew up in Les Cayes in southern Haiti together with his twin youthful brothers and their mom.
Whereas Nelson and his twin brother Presley ultimately immigrated to the U.S. and constructed a life there, Damas remained in Haiti, the place job alternatives have been restricted.
Over time, the brothers created a transportation firm in Massachusetts that started with one car and ultimately grew right into a mid-sized operation with dozens of automobiles offering college and medical transportation.
When humanitarian parole opened a pathway for Haitians to enter the U.S. legally, the brothers utilized for Damas to enter by this system.
On Feb. 19, 2024, he landed at Boston’s Logan Airport.
For the primary time in a few years, the complete household was reunited.
“It was an enormous second for us,” Nelson stated. “For a really very long time, the 4 of us have been by no means collectively in the identical place.”
Damas rapidly started serving to with the household enterprise whereas ready for his paperwork to be processed.
He was wanting to work, Nelson stated, typically telling his brother he would take any job obtainable.
“He advised me, ‘Brother, get me a job. I’ll do something,’” Nelson recalled.
Like many immigrants arriving later in life, Damas carried easy desires.
“He wished to go to New York Metropolis,” Nelson stated. “And he advised me at some point he wished to work arduous and purchase a BMW.”
A routine police name modifications every thing
Damas’ life within the U.S. took a dramatic flip in September 2024.
Based on Nelson, the incident started when a neighbor observed a toddler exterior on the sidewalk and known as the police.
Damas had been house on the time. When officers arrived, he got here exterior and tried to self-discipline the kid by slapping him in entrance of the officers — one thing Nelson says mirrored cultural variations in self-discipline reasonably than abuse.
“That’s how many people have been raised,” Nelson stated. “However right here, the legal guidelines are totally different.”
Police arrested Damas following the incident.
Just a few hours later, Nelson went to bail him out, paying $450.
However earlier than Damas may very well be launched, federal immigration brokers arrived and took him into custody.
“I noticed two males stroll in sporting jackets that stated ‘federal agent’,” Nelson stated. “Later, they advised me he had been picked up by one other company.”
Damas was transferred first to an immigration detention facility in Buffalo, New York, and later to Florence, Arizona.
For his household, the sudden escalation was stunning.
“We thought we have been coping with a small concern,” Nelson stated. “We by no means imagined ICE would take him.”
Months in detention
Whereas detained, Damas maintained common contact together with his household by cellphone.
Nelson stated his brother tried to stay optimistic regardless of the circumstances.
“He made buddies. He would play dominoes with different detainees and name us each day,” Nelson stated.
However in February, his well being started to say no.
Damas repeatedly complained of a extreme toothache.
Every time he sought medical assist on the detention facility, Nelson stated he was given ache medicine however by no means taken to a dentist.
“They gave him ibuprofen or Tylenol,” Nelson stated. “However they by no means handled the an infection.”
Over time, the ache worsened.
By mid-February, Damas’ voice had grown so weak that his mom struggled to know him throughout cellphone calls.
Quickly after, the household stopped listening to from him altogether.
A sudden medical disaster
Days later, the household acquired a name from hospital workers informing them that Damas had been admitted in essential situation.
Medical doctors advised them he had pneumonia and a extreme an infection attributable to a dental abscess.
The an infection had unfold all through his physique.
“He was intubated within the ICU,” Nelson stated. “We couldn’t imagine it.”
Over the following a number of days, the household stated they struggled to acquire details about his situation.
At one level, hospital workers advised them they have been now not licensed to launch updates.
“It felt like every thing went silent,” Nelson stated. “We didn’t know if he was alive.”
Ultimately medical doctors carried out surgical procedure to take away the an infection and drain an abscess linked to the tooth an infection.
However the harm had already unfold by his physique.
Because the household confronted the agonizing resolution to take away life assist, Emmanuel’s mom made one remaining, determined request: she wished her son to die as a free man.
Although he was comatose and unresponsive, he remained shackled to his hospital mattress. “She wished {the handcuffs} to be eliminated, and the chain to be eliminated as nicely,” Nelson recalled. Hospital workers contacted ICE to hunt permission for the restraint’s removing—a request the company granted inside 20 minutes.
Solely after the safety guard unshackled him was the equipment turned off. At 3:12 p.m. Japanese Time, freed from his chains however nonetheless within the shadow of custody, Emmanuel Damas handed away.
A Last Farewell to Emmanuel Cleford Damas
To honor the lifetime of Emmanuel Cleford Damas, the household has scheduled a public memorial service locally he briefly known as house.
The service will happen on March 28, 2026, on the Lecturers Union Affiliation positioned at 180 Mount Vernon St. in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
A viewing for household and buddies to supply condolences shall be held from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., adopted by a memorial service and a repast to have a good time a life lower brief.
A warning for the group
For Nelson and his household, the tragedy has left them with grief — and a message they need others within the Haitian group to listen to.
In as we speak’s local weather of heightened immigration enforcement, they are saying even minor encounters with regulation enforcement can have life-altering penalties.
“A small scenario changed into one thing a lot greater,” Nelson stated.
He urges immigrants to remember that on a regular basis disputes, misunderstandings or police calls might result in immigration penalties if authorities turn into concerned.
“It’s a must to watch out,” he stated. “One thing that appears small can change your whole life.”
For Nelson, the ache is compounded by the sense that his brother got here to the USA chasing alternative and hope.
As a substitute, he died removed from house whereas in authorities custody.
Based on an announcement by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, he “was supplied with a medical screening, the place workers discovered no severe new medical points however ensured he would preserve receiving prescriptions for a preexisting medical situation.”
“He got here right here believing he might construct a greater life,” Nelson stated. “That dream led to a spot he by no means ought to have been.”