phoenix — A Haitian man who was held in an immigration detention center in Arizona for several months died in a hospital Monday after a tooth infection was left untreated, the man’s brother said Wednesday.
Emanuel Damas, 56, told medical staff at the Florence Correctional Center that he had a toothache in mid-February, but was not sent to the dentist, Damas’ brother, Presley Nelson, said.
Nelson believes 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 deaths in countries with less access to health care, but not in 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 ICE custody this year.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. ICE said it hopes to issue a press release on Wednesday.
Earlier Wednesday, ICE officials announced the death of Mexican citizen Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, who was in an ICE detention center in California and died in hospital on February 27 after reporting chest pains and shortness of breath.
Chandler City Councilwoman Christine Ellis, a Haitian-American nurse, said Damas’ family contacted her after his death.
“As a medical person, I’m absolutely appalled that there were medically licensed people who were working there that allowed these things to happen,” Ellis said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”
A report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Damas’ cause of death as “pending” as of Wednesday.
Ellis said Damas was taken into ICE custody in September and quickly transferred to the medium-security Florence Correctional Center, where he was held for several months, including after his asylum claim was rejected.
CoreCivic, a for-profit corrections company that operates the Florence facility, deferred comment to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Associated Press reporter Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.