Medical examiner: Arizona ICE detainee’s untreated tooth infection killed him

Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian asylum seeker being held in an immigration detention facility in Arizona, died from severe throat and chest infections that developed from an untreated tooth infection. 

The preliminary report published by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Damas’ death was caused by complications from “necrotizing mediastinitis with neck and retropharyngeal abscess.” 

Mediastinitis is a lethal chest infection and a medical emergency that requires immediate care. It causes trouble breathing and high fevers and can result in sepsis and even heart failure. A retropharyngeal abscess, meanwhile, is a collection of pus that collects in the back of the throat following an extreme infection and it can cause aspiration pneumonia, blood clots and a blocked airway.  

The medical examiner’s report noted that both conditions stemmed from severe dental cavities and tooth disease. Infections that result in mediastinitis develop over time. Damas’ brother, Presly Nelson, told Arizona’s Family that he had complained to facility staff for at least two weeks about a toothache. 

Nelson said that Damas arrived in the country legally, under then-President Joe Biden’s Humanitarian Parole Program, and was awaiting temporary protected status. Both programs have been gutted by President Donald Trump. 

The Humanitarian Parole Program allowed a limited number of Haitians, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Cubans who passed a background check to live and work in the country for two years. When Trump took office last year, he quickly signed an executive order terminating the program. 

And the future of the work permits and deportation protections afforded to Haitians under TPS remain in legal limbo as the federal government pushes to remove the country from the list of eligible candidates. The program is intended to help people who are unable to return to their home country because of extreme and dangerous conditions, including armed conflict or natural disasters. 

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling this summer on whether the federal government has the right to strip Haitian and Syrian nationals of their TPS protections. 

Damas’ death comes as public trust of federal immigration officials is plummeting and elected officials are drawing attention to human rights violations in detention centers. Last year, 48 people died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities. And critics fear that number will only worsen this year. As of early May, at least 18 people have died in ICE facilities. 

In a written statement, U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign who frequently joins congressional inspections of ICE facilities in Arizona, lamented Damas’ death and called on the federal government to be transparent about the circumstances leading to his demise. 

“A toothache should never escalate into a fatal medical emergency, especially while someone is in government custody and entirely dependent on detention staff for access to care,” the Tucson Democrat said. 

In March, following the news of Damas’ death, Grijalva denounced ICE as a “lawless and deadly” agency and advocated for it to be “dismantled.” That’s a view that’s shared by an increasing number of voters. A January survey conducted shortly after the shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota found that 46% of Americans supported abolishing ICE rather than simply reforming it.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about how Damas’ death occurred or how protocols would change to prevent similar deaths in the future. In her statement, Grijalva noted that her office requested more information on the circumstances leading to Damas’ death, his medical records and any complaints he made to staff, but hasn’t received anything to date. 

A detainee death report posted to ICE’s website notes that Damas spent six months in ICE custody before his death in March. He was transferred to the Florence Detention Center in Arizona from New York in September of last year and later moved to the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Center is run by CoreCivic, a private prison company that has been accused of delaying urgent medical care. Detainees at its Florence facility and another in Texas recently suffered outbreaks of measles.

ICE’s death report emphasizes that Damas received regular medical and dental evaluations and he declined recommendations for tooth extractions. On Feb. 19, according to the report, Damas was transported to the local hospital when he exhibited throat and stomach pain, agitation and low oxygen saturations. Hospital staff diagnosed Damas with acute respiratory failure due to septic shock. 

Damas was eventually transferred to at least two other hospitals and put on a ventilator. He died on March 2 at Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center.