Haitian man dies in U.S. immigration custody with untreated toothache, brother says - NBC4

A sanctuary city is a city that limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents in order to prevent undocumented immigrants from deportation.

A Haitian man confined at an Arizona immigration detention center for months died at a hospital Monday after a tooth infection was left untreated, the man’s brother said Wednesday.

Emmanuel Damas, 56, told medical personnel at the Florence Correctional Center that he had a toothache in mid-February, but he was not sent to a dentist, said Damas’ brother, Presly Nelson.

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Nelson believes the staff at the facility did not take his brother’s complaints seriously even though it was a treatable condition. Nelson said he would expect such a death in countries with less access to health care, but not the United States.

“As a country — I’m an American now — I think we can do better than that," Nelson said.

Damas is among at least nine people who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this year.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. ICE had said it hoped to issue a news release Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, ICE officials announced the death of Mexican national Alberto Gutierrez-Reyes, who had been in a California ICE detention center and died in the hospital Feb. 27 after reporting chest pain and shortness of breath.

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Chandler City Council member Christine Ellis, a Haitian American who is a registered nurse, said she was contacted by Damas’ family after his death.

“As a medical person, I am absolutely appalled that there were medical-licensed people that were working there and allowed those things to happen,” Ellis said. “It does not make sense to me.”

A report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Damas' cause of death as “pending” as of Wednesday.

Experts say a toothache should not typically be a cause of death. Untreated cavities can reach the nerve and lead to abscess, a severe infection. This can spread to other parts of the body and have serious, and in rare cases, fatal results, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Ultimately, in rare instances, oral disease can be the focal point of a disease process that leads to death,” Dr. Bill Calnon, the president of the American Dental Association, previously told FRONTLINE.

“The vast majority of dental disease is preventable,” Calnon said. Dying as the result of a toothache, he says, is “totally unnecessary.”

Damas was taken into ICE custody in September and was soon transferred to the medium-security Florence Correctional Center, where he was held for several months, including after his asylum application was denied, Ellis said.

CoreCivic, a for-profit corrections company that runs the Florence facility, deferred comment to ICE.

Associated Press reporter Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.