They Let Her Freeze. Now Daphy Michel's Family Is Taking the Federal Government to Court

Daphy Michel came to this country in 2022 chasing something simple and human: a safer life. She did not get to build it. On March 2, the 31-year-old Haitian immigrant was found at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh and later died of hypothermia. Now her family is preparing to take the federal government to court.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Michel's death a homicide, with hypothermia as the cause. Officials were careful to explain that the homicide classification means the death was caused by the actions of another person and is not itself a declaration of criminal guilt. But the office was blunt about her condition. Michel, they said, was a vulnerable adult, living with untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier, when she was released from federal custody on February 27.

She had been fitted with an ICE ankle monitor and let go days before she was found. Her family says the death was preventable and reflects deeper, systemic failures inside the immigration detention system.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied responsibility, stating flatly that ICE had nothing to do with her death. Officials said she was released during daylight, with all of her belongings and a fully charged phone, in a city with public transportation. A member of Congress whose district includes Pittsburgh called the death preventable and said Michel deserved care, shelter, language access and medical support.

Around the same time as Michel's death, ICE adopted a policy that ended a Biden-era requirement to track and report deaths that occur within 30 days of a detainee's release. Immigrant rights advocates say that change makes it easier for cases like hers to disappear from the record entirely.

Her family's filing seeks damages and, just as importantly, accountability from the agencies and the personnel involved. Their attorney has framed her death as the predictable result of a system that too often treats the most vulnerable people in its care as someone else's problem. Daphy Michel wanted to be safe. The people responsible for her let her freeze. Her family intends to make sure her name is not the last word.