ICE had an idea for a mentally ill woman. Drive her an hour in the wrong direction, drop her off in a city she had never been to without a jacket or a working phone, and wait.
Daphy Michel was 31, and her family was waiting at home for the call telling them where to pick her up.
Last September, a neighbor called police because Daphy was screaming at people who were not there. She was in the middle of a psychiatric crisis. Police arrested her.
Her family could not post the $10,000 bond, so she sat in jail for almost six months, through multiple psychiatric examinations and seven postponed hearings. Her mental illness was no secret to anyone.
When a judge finally heard the case, he threw out both charges. She had not threatened a single identifiable person.
Daphy had entered the United States legally under humanitarian parole and was still waiting for her asylum hearing. Her brother left court relieved that Daphy was finally coming home. He went home to wait.
Instead of a call, ICE strapped a GPS monitor to Daphy's ankle and dropped her off alone in Pittsburgh. She did not speak English. Her attorney says she could not read. Her cell service had expired while she was jailed. She was dressed for September weather.
It was 22 degrees — below freezing.
Bus after bus passed. The sun went down. Daphy barely moved.
Someone reported a Haitian woman in Pittsburgh wearing an ankle monitor who appeared to "need help." Using Google Translate, the caller understood that she believed someone was coming to pick her up and take her home.
Just before 10 a.m., a maintenance worker found Daphy without a pulse.
She froze to death.
ICE says its "first alert" came when the medical examiner cut the GPS monitor off her body.
Trump's DHS says ICE had "NOTHING to do" with what happened to her. Its defense: the "sun was out" and public transportation was nearby.
The medical examiner just ruled Daphy's death a HOMICIDE.
Daphy's family was waiting at home for her. ICE drove her the other way...
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