PITTSBURGH — A local representative is weighing in on the death of a woman found at a bus shelter after she was released from federal custody.
Daphy Michel died in March after being detained by ICE.
She was eventually released and later found at a Station Square bus stop. She died shortly after.
Last week, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide.
On Tuesday, Rep. Summer Lee was in Pittsburgh to tour the new Spring Garden Early Childhood Center in Troy Hill. While she was there, Channel 11 asked her about the incident.
She said ICE takes the humanity out of the way it operates.
“When we see this particular instance, here was a woman who was failed by the system at every turn. Even when she was picked up, she didn’t have language support and access; she didn’t have mental health support and access; her family wasn’t notified,” Lee said. “They essentially discarded this human being.”
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner found her cause of death to be hypothermia.
An attorney for her family says she was in the country legally and a lawsuit is likely coming soon.
The Department of Homeland Security called Michel an illegal alien and said ICE had nothing to do with her death.
Lee recently gained access to Pennsylvania’s largest ICE detention center alongside Congressman Chris Deluzio.
Click here to learn more about what they found there.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
