Overview
- Emmanuel Damas, 56, died Monday at a hospital in Scottsdale while detained at the Florence Correctional Complex in Arizona.
- His brother says detention staff gave him ibuprofen for a mid-February toothache instead of sending him to a dentist, and he later went into septic shock on a ventilator and dialysis.
- Family members report difficulty getting updates or visitation and say Damas remained handcuffed during an ICU visit.
- ICE had not publicly acknowledged the death as of Wednesday and CoreCivic referred questions to ICE, while the medical examiner listed the cause of death as pending.
- Damas entered the U.S. in 2024 under a humanitarian program and was detained after a 2025 arrest in Boston, and his case now factors into a rising count of ICE-custody deaths, with ICE citing eight this year and other reports noting additional cases.