A special bond that began before birth has been violently broken. Emmanuel Cleeford Damas.
A loving Haitian father and one half of a twin pair, died in agony on March 2, 2026 after Immigration and Customs Enforcement allowed a simple tooth infection to ravage his body. His twin brother Presly Nelson is now left behind to mourn the other half of himself, a grief that only twins can truly know.
They Did Not Take Him Seriously
In mid February, while detained at the Florence Correctional Center in Arizona, Emmanuel began complaining of severe tooth pain. He told facility staff repeatedly that he was hurting. He was ignored.
If you or I had a severe tooth abscess, we would go to a dentist. We would be prescribed basic antibiotics and have the tooth extracted. The cost is minimal. The intervention is simple.
Instead, detention staff handed Emmanuel Tylenol and sent him back to his cell.
Days passed. The infection from the untreated tooth abscess festered and spread rapidly through his body. It moved into his neck, then into his lungs, triggering severe pneumonia. Eventually, his body went into full septic shock. By the time he was finally transferred to a hospital, it was too late.
When the family ultimately learned the full story, they discovered that the detention center had almost no record of his agonizing dental complaints. There was no dentist visit. There were no antibiotics. There was nothing but clinical indifference.
“My twin brother is gone forever.” Those were the words of Presly Nelson, heavy with a specific, hollow grief that only a twin can truly understand. Presly has demanded an independent autopsy. While the official cause of death remains undetermined on paper, hospital staff were clear with the family: the infection started from the tooth and went septic.
Emmanuel’s death is an unspeakable tragedy for his brother and his children, but it is not an anomaly. It is a feature of a system that views human beings as numbers in a ledger.
Emmanuel is at least the tenth reported death in ICE custody in 2026. This is part of a deadly, documented pattern inside these facilities, where medical requests are dismissed, pain is treated with suspicion, and basic needs are ignored until the situation becomes fatal.
When institutional cruelty goes unchecked, this is the end result. A man dies from a toothache because the system simply did not care enough to save him.
Twins share a connection deeper than most of us can fathom. They feel each other’s pain and finish each other’s thoughts. The system took one half of this pair, locked him away, allowed an infection to slowly kill him, and left the other half to grieve alone.
Emmanuel Cleeford Damas did not have to die. We cannot allow his name to disappear into the black box.
Please share this story.
Mainstream outlets frequently overlook the daily realities inside detention centers. We must continue to shine a light on these abuses and demand accountability for Emmanuel and his family.
Family of Haitian man who died in ICE custody has doubts about his medical care
Citations
[1] NBC10 Boston, Family of Haitian man who died in ICE custody has doubts about his medical care, original broadcast and video report with twin brother Presly Nelson, March 7, 2026, direct link:
[2] ABC15 Arizona, Haitian man dies from tooth infection while detained in Florence ICE facility, family says, investigative report and family interviews, March 4, 2026, direct link: https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/haitian-man-dies-from-tooth-infection-while-detained-in-florence-ice-facility-family-says
[3] WBUR, Haitian man who had been living in Mass. dies in ICE custody after untreated tooth infection, March 2026, direct link: https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/03/06/haitian-man-dies-ice-custody-tooth-infection
