An immigration attorney is raising questions about a Haitian woman’s death in Pittsburgh this month days after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took her into custody and then released her with an electronic ankle monitor.
Daphy Michel, 31, of Charleroi was found unresponsive at a bus shelter on March 2 on East Carson Street on the South Side.
Port Authority police responded, and she died a short time later at a hospital.
Joseph Murphy, a Pittsburgh immigration attorney, is working with Michel’s brother to try to figure out what happened to Michel, who was known to have mental health problems. Murphy cited Michel’s “extreme vulnerability.”
“How did she end up dead?” Murphy asked. “You just can’t be dumping these people on the streets like this.”
In a statement posted to X on Saturday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was not responsible for Michel’s death.
“ICE had NOTHING to do with this woman’s death. She passed away THREE days after ICE encountered her,” the statement read.
The statement followed posts Friday on social media about Michel’s death that were critical of ICE.
In response to questions from TribLive, ICE sent the same statement that had been posted on X.
Court records show Michel was arrested in September on misdemeanor charges and held at Washington County’s jail. When those charges were dismissed Feb. 27, ICE picked her up on an immigration detainer, according to Murphy.
The agency took Michel to Pittsburgh to put a GPS monitor on her ankle, before releasing her in the city.
Three days later, a UPMC doctor contacted Michel’s brother to tell him his sister died from cardiac arrest, Murphy said.
Abigail Gardner, an Allegheny County spokeswoman, said autopsy results for Michel are still pending, and toxicology results could take several weeks.
‘Invisible people’
According to a criminal complaint, Michel was taken into custody after a neighbor in Charleroi called police on Sept. 3 to report they believed she was having a mental health crisis.
The neighbor told police Michel “brandished a knife at her stating ‘I want to hurt everyone.’ ”
Charleroi police responding to the scene said they had previously dealt with Michel and knew her history, the complaint said.
Sgt. Jackson Bucy arrested Michel and charged her with harassment and terroristic threats.
According to the criminal docket for the case, Michel’s preliminary hearing was rescheduled seven times between Sept. 18 and Feb. 26.
No reasons for the postponements are listed on the docket.
Washington County’s chief public defender, Rose Semple, did not return messages seeking comment on Monday.
On Feb. 26, according to court records, Michel had a preliminary hearing before District Judge Eric G. Porter. Michel’s brother attended; it was the last time he saw her, Murphy said.
Porter dismissed the charges, finding there was no identifiable victim and therefore no crime, Murphy said.
“She was screaming at imaginary people in the street,” Murphy said. “You can’t do terroristic threats against invisible people.”
No cooperation
After the charges were dismissed, there remained an ICE detainer against Michel, who entered the United States through Brownsville, Texas, in 2022, Murphy said.
At the time she entered, Murphy continued, the federal government found compelling “urgent humanitarian reasons” to allow her to stay in the U.S.
She was scheduled for an immigration hearing on April 16, in Orlando, Fla., according to Immigration Court records.
On Feb. 27, according to Murphy, ICE agents picked Michel up and took her to their offices in the South Side of Pittsburgh. They placed an ankle monitor on her as part of their Alternatives to Detention program.
In its statement, DHS said Michel was released that same day.
“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,” the statement said.
On March 2, at 9:59 a.m., Michel was found unresponsive at a bus shelter at East Carson and Smithfield streets, according to Jim Ritchie, a Pittsburgh Regional Transit spokesman.
Officers were called for a report of a woman who was not breathing and had no pulse, Ritchie said.
Over the next 10 minutes, they attempted to revive her, shocked her with a defibrillator three times and gave her four doses of Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug, according to Ritchie.
Pittsburgh paramedics arrived, took over care and transported her to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, Ritchie said. Michel was pronounced dead at 12:14 p.m., according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The next day, the Department of Homeland Security said in its statement, ICE was notified that Michel’s ankle monitor had been tampered with. Officers went to the last known GPS location on the system: the medical examiner’s office.
Staff there “refused to cooperate or even talk with ICE federal law enforcement,” DHS said in its statement.
Instead, the ICE officers contacted 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,” DHS said.
The statement continued: “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.”
Gardner, the county spokeswoman, confirmed the details of the DHS statement about the interaction between the medical examiner’s office and ICE agents.
Last week, Allegheny County Council overwhelmingly passed a bill that bars county employees from cooperating with ICE and prohibits anyone from being transferred from the county jail into ICE custody without a judicial warrant.
That wouldn’t have mattered in this case, though, given that Michel had been held in the Washington County correctional facility.
A message left with the jail administration there on Monday was not returned.
Release procedures
Murphy wonders why ICE didn’t return Michel to her home in Washington County after placing the ankle monitor on her.
”They brought her up here,” he said. “They could have just as easily driven her 40 minutes back to Charleroi.”
At a minimum, Murphy continued, ICE should not have released a woman with mental illness on the South Side with no resources or support system.
“When you take away someone’s liberties, there are duties you are responsible for,” Murphy said. “There needs to be an examination of the release procedures.”
In the meantime, Murphy said he has worked with the community and Catholic charities to organize a funeral service for Michel later this week.
“This person was loved,” he said.