Massachusetts officials are calling for accountability among local and federal law enforcement in the wake of the death of Dorchester’s Emmanuel Damas in immigration custody last month.
Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren demanded a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Damas in early March.
Pressley addressed the House of Representatives last Thursday, March 26, to mourn the death of Damas and to call for greater accountability among law enforcement.
“There can never be true justice for Emmanuel,” Pressley said on the House floor. “In a just world, he would still be alive and home with his family. There must be accountability.”
Pressley started a discharge petition that was signed by a majority of House members, forcing a vote to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti by three years. The vote will take place in the coming weeks.
That was a “really important and unlikely victory,” said Brian Concannon, co-founder and executive director of the human rights organization Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. “In my research, there’s never been a successful discharge petition that was generated by grassroots movements ever in history. This is particularly historic.”
What his family says started as a toothache turned tragic when Damas was allegedly unable to access proper and timely health care at the Florence Detention Center in Arizona. The federal Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have publicly refuted that allegation and have said Damas was taken to three medical centers for treatment.
Damas arrived legally in Dorchester in 2024 from Haiti and was arrested Sept. 14 on a count of domestic violence, though his family refutes the legitimacy of those allegations. He died after being taken to a facility in Phoenix for a cardiothoracic workup. The Laken Riley Act required he be held pending his asylum appeal. His original asylum claim was denied in 2025, filed after he was taken into custody by ICE in Boston last September.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a March statement that everyone in ICE custody receives medical, dental and mental health screenings within 12 hours of arriving at a detention center.
City Councillor Ruthzee Louijeune has been helping Damas’ family access legal and emotional support and helped plan his memorial services that took place Saturday, March 28. She said the family had to secure an independent autopsy for Damas themselves, as ICE did not provide a comprehensive one after his death.
“It’s just been an uphill battle for them,” Louijeune said. “But they have just been so incredible in using their pain — their very private pain — to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone ever again.”
Louijeune said she would like to see a review of the actions by the Boston Police Department as well as a federal investigation into Damas’ death. Boston and Suffolk county law enforcement arrested Damas and submitted his fingerprints at the Nashua Street Jail into a federal database, which triggered ICE to pick him up.
The Boston Police Department had no direct communication with ICE after Damas’ Sept. 14 arrest, said Mark Marron, a spokesperson for the department. Marron said he had no knowledge of any investigation into the actions of the department regarding Damas’ arrest.
Marron said all arrestees’ fingerprints are taken and submitted to the National Crime Information Center and the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Because Damas’ arrest report includes an allegation of domestic violence, the case details are not publicly available.
Louijeune recommended anyone in legal trouble with ICE consult an immigration and a criminal attorney before taking action, even if it’s to bail out a family member or loved one.
“It’s an irredeemable institution that needs to end,” Louijeune said. “Because they’ve been acting and moving lawlessly.”
This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.