PITTSBURGH — The death of a woman who was found unresponsive at a Pittsburgh bus shelter, days after being released by ICE, was ruled a homicide by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday.
Daphy Michel, 31, was declared deceased at a hospital on March 2, following an unspecified incident along East Carson Street.
Supporters claim Michel, a Charleroi resident, spent months in jail after being arrested during a possible mental health incident. When her charges were dropped, she was allegedly placed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and released in Pittsburgh with an ankle monitor.
Michel was found unresponsive at that South Shore bus shelter three days later, supporters said.
A spokesperson for Pittsburgh Regional Transit said Port Authority Police were called for a welfare check and rendered aid to Michel before medics took her to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.
“Port Authority Police’s involvement was limited to the initial response and medical assistance. The department did not conduct the subsequent death investigation,” that spokesperson said.
The Department of Homeland Security has denied any responsibility.
In a March 14 post on X, DHS claimed ICE had “NOTHING to do with this woman’s death,” and posted the following full statement:
“ICE had NOTHING to do with this woman’s death. She passed away THREE days after ICE encountered her.
“Following her arrest by local authorities for Terroristic Threats and Harassment, Daphy Michel, an illegal alien from Haiti, was encountered by ICE and placed in removal proceedings. ICE issued her an ICE ankle monitor and she was released from ICE custody on February 27. She was released with all of her belongings, including a fully charged phone, in sunny weather in the middle of Pittsburgh, where public transport is readily available.
“On March 3, ICE received a notification that her ankle monitor had been tampered with. ICE officers traveled to her last known location on the GPS system: the county medical office. Upon arrival, local staff refused to cooperate or even talk with ICE federal law enforcement. Our officers instead had to call the U.S. Marshal’s service, who were let into the building and were given the severed ankle monitor. However, staff refused to even tell the U.S. Marshals about the individual’s condition.
“ICE was never given official notification of her passing, and found out about her death via the media thanks to the local county’s refusal to even have a conversation with federal law enforcement.”
At 4:00 p.m., Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato issued the following statement about Michel’s death, saying:
“The death of Ms. Daphy Michel was a tragedy and appears that with a little humanity, it could have been completely avoidable. There were cascading decisions – for the Washington County Jail to call ICE instead of her family, for ICE to drop her in an unfamiliar place instead of at home – that showed a callous disregard for a person with severe mental health challenges who needed help.
“Whether it is here in Pittsburgh, or Buffalo where ICE left another immigrant to die in the cold, or Minneapolis where American citizens were killed by ICE officers, we’ve seen the consequences of their cruelty. It must stop. My hope is that justice is served for the victims and more accountability, oversight, and consequences are put into action by the federal government to end these preventable tragedies.”
Allegheny County Medical Examiner spokesperson James Madalinsky also shared a statement on Michel’s death, saying:
“Determining the cause and manner of death is a statutory responsibility of the Medical Examiner’s office.
“The opinion of the forensic pathologist in this case is that Ms. Michel was a vulnerable adult, suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier when she was released from federal custody on February 27. Based on all available information during the investigation, the pathologist ruled Ms. Michel’s death a homicide.
“A homicide ruling is a standard manner of death determination indicating the death was caused by the actions of another individual. A homicide determination is not to be interpreted as a declaration of criminal guilt. The full autopsy report is available by request through the Medical Examiner’s office website and will be subject to applicable fees in accordance with statutes set by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
“The Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner will have no further comment on the matter.”
Rep. Summer Lee also released a statement, saying:
“Daphy Michel was a human being. She happened to be born on the other side of a border, but she was no less worthy of care, safety, and dignity. That should not have been a death sentence. Daphy’s death was preventable and is the result of a violent system that cages people, surveils them, abandons them, dehumanizes them in life, and smears them in death to escape accountability. She deserved care, shelter, language access, and medical support. ICE and every agency that failed her must answer for this. And now, as more people die in and around ICE custody, their answer is not transparency, accountability, or care, but to stop reporting the deaths of recently released detainees altogether. We may never know how many more stories like Daphy’s have been hidden by a system built to disappear people. Rather than pour billions more into the agency that murdered her, we must abolish ICE and build systems rooted in equity and basic human dignity.”
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