Woman’s Hypothermia Death After ICE Release Ruled a Homicide
The death of a Haitian asylum seeker who succumbed to hypothermia days after being released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody has been ruled a homicide by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, a finding that has intensified scrutiny of the agency’s handling of vulnerable detainees.
Daphy Michel, 31, was found unresponsive at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh’s South Shore neighborhood on March 2, 2026, and later pronounced dead. On June 12, the medical examiner determined that her death was caused by hypothermia and classified the manner as homicide, meaning it “was caused by the actions of another individual,” according to NBC News.
A Vulnerable Woman Released Without Support
Michel entered the United States legally at Brownsville, Texas, in December 2022 and was granted humanitarian parole while seeking political asylum. Her path took a tragic turn in September 2025, when she was arrested after a neighbor reported her experiencing significant mental health episodes. She was charged with misdemeanor harassment and threats for yelling at imaginary people.
She spent six months at Washington County Jail in Washington, Pennsylvania, where her preliminary hearing was postponed seven times while she awaited a mental health evaluation. On February 26, 2026, a magistrate dismissed the charges, stating he could not hold her for threatening imaginary people, her attorney Joseph Patrick Murphy told The Guardian.
Rather than being released, Michel was taken into ICE custody the following day. The agency processed her at its Enforcement and Removal Operations office in Pittsburgh, fitted her with an ankle monitor, enrolled her in the Alternatives to Detention program, and released her.
According to Murphy, Michel was wearing “September clothes” in February winter weather. She was found days later at a bus shelter approximately 25 miles from where she had been held, having spent at least 24 hours in sub-freezing temperatures, PublicSource reported.
The medical examiner’s office described Michel as “a vulnerable adult, suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier when she was released from federal custody.”
Conflicting Accounts of Responsibility
The case has produced sharply divergent narratives from federal authorities and local officials.
Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, forcefully denied ICE’s responsibility in an email statement. “ICE had NOTHING to do with this woman’s death. She passed away THREE days after ICE encountered her,” Bis wrote. She described Michel as “an illegal alien from Haiti” who was placed in removal proceedings and stated that Michel had “all her belongings and a fully charged phone, in sunny weather in the middle of Pittsburgh, where public transport is readily available.”
Bis also claimed that ICE learned of Michel’s death “via the media thanks to the local county’s refusal to even have a conversation with federal law enforcement,” and that the agency received a tamper alert from Michel’s ankle monitor on March 3 — one day after she had already died.
Local officials offered a starkly different assessment. Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato called Michel’s death “a tragedy and appears that with a little humanity, it could have been completely avoidable,” adding that ICE’s handling “showed a callous disregard for a person with severe mental health challenges who needed help.”
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) went further, calling Michel’s death “preventable and the result of a violent system that cages people, surveils them, abandons them, dehumanizes them in life, and smears them in death to escape accountability.”
Broader Pattern of Deaths and Policy Changes
Michel’s death comes amid a troubling rise in fatalities connected to immigration detention. ICE recorded 32 deaths in custody in 2025 — the highest number in more than two decades — and at least 18 detainees have died since January 1, 2026, according to the Associated Press. Detainees are dying by suicide at an unprecedented pace, and experts say many deaths from natural causes could have been prevented with timely medical care.
The homicide ruling arrived just days after ICE announced it would stop reporting deaths of detainees within 30 days of their release from custody, rescinding a 2021 Biden-era policy. Health experts have sharply criticized the change. Dr. Homer Venters, former chief medical officer of the New York City jail system, called it “a willful act of ignoring the most serious health outcome,” while Dr. Sanjay Basu of UCSF warned it will “make the mortality statistics appear lower without any actual improvement in care.”
Legal and Humanitarian Questions Remain
The medical examiner’s homicide ruling is a determination of manner of death, not a criminal charge. It means “somebody did or failed to do something that brought about her demise,” Murphy explained. The family’s attorney said he expects to file a civil lawsuit against ICE in the coming weeks.
Michel’s brother, Carlo Michel, said through an interpreter that she came to the United States “looking for life.” She had an immigration hearing scheduled for April 16 — two weeks after she died.
Key questions remain unanswered: What happened between Michel’s release on February 27 and her death on March 2? Was any coordination made between ICE and local mental health or social services? And will the Allegheny County District Attorney pursue criminal charges?
The case has become a rallying point for advocates calling for ICE abolition and broader reform of immigration enforcement practices, highlighting the dangerous intersection of immigration enforcement, mental health care, and public safety.