From a neighborhood call to ICE custody: Haitian man’s death raises alarm about minor incidents escalating for immigrants

When Emmanuel Damas arrived in Boston in early 2024, it was supposed to be the beginning of a new life.

The 56-year-old Haitian father had come to the United States through the humanitarian parole program created to help Haitians fleeing violence and instability back home. His brothers had spent years building a transportation business in Massachusetts and hoped Damas would join them and finally achieve the stability he had long struggled to find in Haiti.

Instead, less than a year later, Damas died after being hospitalized while in federal immigration custody — a tragedy his family says began with a routine neighborhood call that spiraled into a chain of events they never imagined.

“It started with something small,” said his brother, Presner Nelson, who lives in the Boston area. “And it ended with my brother losing his life.”

A small family reunion years in the making

Damas grew up in Les Cayes in southern Haiti with his twin younger brothers and their mother.

While Nelson and his twin brother Presley eventually immigrated to the U.S. and built a life there, Damas remained in Haiti, where job opportunities were limited.

Over time, the brothers created a transportation company in Massachusetts that began with one vehicle and eventually grew into a mid-sized operation with dozens of vehicles providing school and medical transportation.

When humanitarian parole opened a pathway for Haitians to enter the U.S. legally, the brothers applied for Damas to enter through the program. 

On Feb. 19, 2024, he landed at Boston’s Logan Airport.

For the first time in many years, the entire family was reunited.

“It was a big moment for us,” Nelson said. “For a very long time, the four of us were never together in the same place.”

Damas quickly began helping with the family business while waiting for his paperwork to be processed.

He was eager to work, Nelson said, often telling his brother he would take any job available.

“He told me, ‘Brother, get me a job. I will do anything,’” Nelson recalled.

Like many immigrants arriving later in life, Damas carried simple dreams.

“He wanted to visit New York City,” Nelson said. “And he told me one day he wanted to work hard and buy a BMW.”

A routine police call changes everything

Damas’ life in the U.S. took a dramatic turn in September 2024.

According to Nelson, the incident began when a neighbor noticed a child outside on the sidewalk and called the police.

Damas had been home at the time. When officers arrived, he came outside and attempted to discipline the child by slapping him in front of the officers — something Nelson says reflected cultural differences in discipline rather than abuse.

“That’s how many of us were raised,” Nelson said. “But here, the laws are different.”

Police arrested Damas following the incident.

A few hours later, Nelson went to bail him out, paying $450.

But before Damas could be released, federal immigration agents arrived and took him into custody.

“I saw two men walk in wearing jackets that said ‘federal agent’,” Nelson said. “Later, they told me he had been picked up by another agency.”

Damas was transferred first to an immigration detention facility in Buffalo, New York, and later to Florence, Arizona.

For his family, the sudden escalation was shocking.

“We thought we were dealing with a small issue,” Nelson said. “We never imagined ICE would take him.”

Months in detention

While detained, Damas maintained regular contact with his family by phone.

Nelson said his brother tried to remain optimistic despite the circumstances.

“He made friends. He would play dominoes with other detainees and call us every day,” Nelson said.

But in February, his health began to decline.

Damas repeatedly complained of a severe toothache.

Each time he sought medical help at the detention facility, Nelson said he was given pain medication but never taken to a dentist.

“They gave him ibuprofen or Tylenol,” Nelson said. “But they never treated the infection.”

Over time, the pain worsened.

By mid-February, Damas’ voice had grown so weak that his mother struggled to understand him during phone calls.

Soon after, the family stopped hearing from him altogether.

A sudden medical crisis

Days later, the family received a call from hospital staff informing them that Damas had been admitted in critical condition.

Doctors told them he had pneumonia and a severe infection caused by a dental abscess.

The infection had spread throughout his body.

“He was intubated in the ICU,” Nelson said. “We couldn’t believe it.”

Over the next several days, the family said they struggled to obtain information about his condition.

At one point, hospital staff told them they were no longer authorized to release updates.

“It felt like everything went silent,” Nelson said. “We didn’t know if he was alive.”

Eventually doctors performed surgery to remove the infection and drain an abscess connected to the tooth infection.

But the damage had already spread through his body.

As the family faced the agonizing decision to remove life support, Emmanuel’s mother made one final, desperate request: she wanted her son to die as a free man. 

Though he was comatose and unresponsive, he remained shackled to his hospital bed. “She wanted the handcuffs to be removed, and the chain to be removed as well,” Nelson recalled. Hospital staff contacted ICE to seek permission for the restraint’s removal—a request the agency granted within 20 minutes. 

Only after the security guard unshackled him was the machinery turned off. At 3:12 p.m. Eastern Time, free of his chains but still in the shadow of custody, Emmanuel Damas passed away.

A Final Farewell to Emmanuel Cleford Damas

To honor the life of Emmanuel Cleford Damas, the family has scheduled a public memorial service in the community he briefly called home.

The service will take place on March 28, 2026, at the Teachers Union Association located at 180 Mount Vernon St. in Dorchester, Massachusetts. 

A viewing for family and friends to offer condolences will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., followed by a memorial service and a repast to celebrate a life cut short.

A warning for the community

For Nelson and his family, the tragedy has left them with grief — and a message they want others in the Haitian community to hear.

In today’s climate of heightened immigration enforcement, they say even minor encounters with law enforcement can have life-altering consequences.

“A small situation turned into something much bigger,” Nelson said.

He urges immigrants to be aware that everyday disputes, misunderstandings or police calls could lead to immigration consequences if authorities become involved.

“You have to be careful,” he said. “Something that seems small can change your entire life.”

For Nelson, the pain is compounded by the sense that his brother came to the United States chasing opportunity and hope.

Instead, he died far from home while in government custody.

According to a statement by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, he “was provided with a medical screening, where staff found no serious new medical issues but ensured he would keep receiving prescriptions for a preexisting medical condition.”

“He came here believing he could build a better life,” Nelson said. “That dream ended in a place he never should have been.”

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