The case of an asylum seeker death ruled a homicide in Pittsburgh has drawn national attention, after a medical examiner determined that a Haitian woman who died of hypothermia shortly after being released from federal custody was killed by the actions of another. The ruling has set the stage for a potential lawsuit and intensified scrutiny of how immigration authorities handle vulnerable people.

What the Medical Examiner Found

Daphy Michel, 31, died on March 2 after being discovered at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh. Maintenance workers reportedly found her lying on the ground, alone and unresponsive, three days after she was released from an ICE office in the city.

On Friday, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office released its findings. The office determined her cause of death to be hypothermia and ruled the manner a homicide, explaining that this designation indicates the death was caused by the actions of another individual.

Crucially, the office stressed that this ruling is not a declaration of criminal guilt. As her family’s attorney, Joseph Patrick Murphy, put it, a homicide finding of this kind means that somebody did or failed to do something that brought about her death, which is distinct from a criminal charge.

Who Was Daphy Michel?

Michel was a native of Haiti who came to the United States seeking asylum, arriving at the southern border in 2022. According to Murphy, she had been granted humanitarian parole based on urgent humanitarian need.

Tragically, she never reached the next step in her case. A hearing had been scheduled for roughly two weeks after she died, an appointment she did not live to see.

Her vulnerability was central to the circumstances surrounding her death. The medical examiner’s office described her as a vulnerable adult who, at the time of her release on February 27, was suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and facing a significant language barrier.

A Troubling Sequence of Events

Murphy laid out a timeline that he argues left Michel exposed to deadly conditions. According to his account, she was arrested the previous summer after yelling at imaginary people, behavior tied to her psychiatric challenges.

The events that followed unfolded roughly like this:

• She spent about six months in Washington County Jail, undergoing multiple psychiatric examinations while awaiting her first hearing.
• A magistrate ultimately determined she could not be held for trial over threatening imaginary people.
• ICE then arrested her in her cell, fitted her with an ankle monitor, and took her about 25 miles away to Pittsburgh.
• She remained at a bus shelter for days in the depths of winter.

The weather, Murphy argued, proved fatal. He noted that she was dressed in September clothing in February, and that the cold overwhelmed her until she slipped into hypothermia.

Her case is not isolated. Reports note she was the second immigrant found dead on the streets shortly after being seen by immigration officers, following the death of a blind refugee left outside a closed business in Buffalo, New York.

ICE Pushes Back

The Department of Homeland Security has firmly rejected any responsibility for Michel’s death. In an email, spokesperson Lauren Bis stated that ICE had nothing to do with what happened, emphasizing that Michel passed away three days after ICE last encountered her.

Bis characterized Michel as an immigrant from Haiti who had been placed in removal proceedings after her arrest. She also asserted that Michel was released with all of her belongings and a fully charged phone, with public transportation available nearby.

The agency further claimed complications in the aftermath. According to Bis, ICE learned the day after Michel died that her ankle monitor had been tampered with, but said that medical examiner staff refused to cooperate or even speak with ICE officials. She added that ICE called in the U.S. Marshals Service to retrieve the ankle monitor, but that they were denied information about Michel’s condition, and that ICE only learned of her death through news reports.

Officials and Advocates React

The ruling and the circumstances behind it have prompted sharp responses from local and federal officials. Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato called Michel’s death a tragedy, suggesting that with a little humanity, it could have been completely avoidable.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, echoed that view, describing the death as preventable and arguing that Michel deserved care, shelter, language access, and medical support. Her family and Haitian community advocates have been demanding answers, with Murphy questioning how she could have ended up dead and arguing that vulnerable people cannot simply be left on the streets.

A Broader Policy Concern

Michel’s death also intersects with a recent shift in federal practice. ICE has stopped reporting the deaths of detainees that occur within 30 days of their release from custody, ending a policy that had been in place since 2021.

Health experts warn that this change could obscure the true scale of such deaths. By no longer counting fatalities that happen shortly after release, the reported figures may reflect fewer deaths than actually occur, without addressing the underlying questions about medical care and the treatment of people in vulnerable circumstances.

Murphy has said he expects Michel’s family to file a lawsuit against ICE in connection with her death, meaning the legal and public reckoning over how she died is likely only beginning.

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