Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Her name was Daphy Michel.

She was a 31 year old Haitian immigrant who came to the United States in 2022. She was deemed eligible to remain in the US for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or humanitarian parole. Daphy settled with her brother and extended family in a small Western PA town, Charleroi in Washington County, about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh.

Charleroi has been home to a bustling Haitian community of nearly 3,000 people whose contributions have been lauded by locals as contributing to the economy and community. Haitians were initially granted TPS after an earthquake in 2010 killed more than 220,000 people. The Biden administration extended TPS to Haitians in 2021. The Trump Administration threatened to remove TPS, but a federal judge halted that while a lawsuit continues.

Daphy was struggling to manage her mental health when she was arrested by local police Sept. 3 2025, charged her with harassment and terrorist threats. Her preliminary hearing was postponed multiple times until February 26, 2026 without explanation. It is unclear if she received any psychiatric care. I noticed media reports referenced local police stating they were familiar with Daphy after a neighbor called 911 saying she was brandishing a knife.

Another source claims she was detained for six months waiting for a mental health evaluation on a $10,000 bond.

At the Feb 26 hearing, all charges were dismissed because there was no identifiable victim. She was to be released the next day, according to her lawyer.

Because of her status as an immigrant, her case had been flagged. On February 27, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents transported Daphy from Washington County to their field offices on the South Side. They put an ankle monitor on her in anticipation of her April 16 immigration hearing scheduled for Orlando, Florida.

Then they released her. On the South Side. 20 miles from her home. No call to her family.

From the Trib

On March 2, at 9:59 a.m., Michel was found unresponsive at a bus shelter at East Carson and Smithfield streets, according to Jim Ritchie, a Pittsburgh Regional Transit spokesman.

Officers were called for a report of a woman who was not breathing and had no pulse, Ritchie said.

Over the next 10 minutes, they attempted to revive her, shocked her with a defibrillator three times and gave her four doses of Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug, according to Ritchie.

Immigration lawyer Joseph Murphy is working with Daphy’s family. And he has questions about the decision to release her onto the street rather than return her to Charleroi, or even notify her family so they could pick her up from the office.

“When you take away someone’s liberties, there are duties you are responsible for,” Murphy said. “There needs to be an examination of the release procedures.”

While it is critical to get clarify on the questions around ICE decisions, I’m also concerned about the decisions that left her in a county jail for nearly six months without a MH assessment AFTER being detained because of her MH symptoms.

That’s an important conversation, too. If Washington County jail officials took the time to put a flag on her file, but did not prioritize or were not resourced well enough to provide her with a mental assessment and supports – they have some culpability here. Washington County elected officials choose to cooperate with ICE – they did not have to release a woman who had not had proper medical treatment simply because she was an immigrant.

Yes, that’s what they did. They cooperated with ICE and now one of their residents is dead.

Remember, the Charleroi police were ‘familiar’ with Daphy, I’d presume that means they’ve been called about her before and were aware of her mental health needs.

They failed to provide her an assessment. Why? Do they have MH health providers on staff or on contract? How much taxpayer money is used for that service? What is the larger picture with Washington County criminal justice system and mental illness?

Washington County has a behavioral health unit in their Department of Human Services. Are they aware of this situation? Do they have resources to respond?

There is a possibility that if Daphy had been under proper treatment during her six months in jail, she might have had the wherewithal to navigate being dumped on the street by ICE – perhaps called someone or even asked a passerby for help.

That doesn’t mitigate the responsibility of ICE to honor their own process. Daphy was in the US legally. She was innocent of the criminal charges. Being arrested and charged does not violate TPS guidelines – being convicted of a crime might. She was not convicted. She was not a criminal. There was no reason to slap an ankle bracelet on her or to monitor her – she hadn’t done anything in violation of her status.

Daphy’s ‘crime’ was her existence as an Black Haitian woman with mental illness who chose to live in Washington County. Her existence is an affront to the Trump Administration, to local law enforcement, to County officials who cooperate with ICE, and to neighbors whose lives are impacted by her disability. She was ‘othered’ through this entire series of events.

I commend her family for seeking justice – it takes a lot of courage to challenge ICE publicly as immigrants themselves. That is why we must all stand with Daphy’s family to absorb the blowback with them.

This is not heartbreaking or tragic. It is a travesty of human life and a reflection of where our County and Washington County is heading – callous tossing a human being like a piece of trash regardless of all known information. Daphy had limited choices, but her captors had a lot of information that could have achieved the result of an ankle bracelet being attached in the Washington County jail and her being home with her family.

This is not a tragic accident. Daphy is a calculated casualty, an acceptable consequence of a war our government wages on all of us. She is not collateral damage. Eradicating Daphy along with other Haitians and other immigrants and other people living with mental illness is the plan. They want her to be gone, whether that’s incarceration, deportation, or death.

We have so much evidence in the form of the blood of Daphy and others who have died at the hands of ICE that they have no regard for any life. Nothing will stop them. I have no illusions about my safety, just consciousness of my privilege. But once we see this truth, how do we turn away and deny it?

Certainly we must hold ICE accountable, but we should hold Washington County officials accountable as well. There will be other situations where immigrant and refugee neighbors are arrested and they may have active mental health symptoms. Will they languish in jail for six months waiting for an eval? Is that true across the board?

I was also not surprised that ICE vis a vis Department of Homeland Security blamed Allegheny County’s new legislation barring County employees from colluding with ICE. They are the victims here. I’m surprised they aren’t charging her family for the damaged ankle bracelet.

“ICE was never given official notification of her passing, and found out about her death via the media thanks to the local county’s refusal to even have a conversation with federal law enforcement,” per the Trib.

Boo hoo.

Daphy Michel was failed by multiple systems. She deserved care and kindness, support and resources. She deserved to be alive.

Rest in power, Daphy.