MIAMI — A Caribbean woman traveling from St. Croix who had been in ICE custody since February died suddenly Friday at the Broward Transitional Center in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
Marie Blaise was 44.
A release from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says the cause of Blaise’s death remains under investigation. Another detainee at the center told the Miami Herald that Blaise had been complaining about chest pains Friday. After her blood pressure measured with a top number of 156, the detainee said, Blaise was given some pills and sent to lie down.
Later, “she started shaking, screaming, ‘My chest! My chest!’” the other detainee said.
ICE said Blaise was pronounced dead at 8:35 p.m.
“Our hearts break by the unfortunate death of Ms. Marie Angie Blaise,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, an advocacy group.
“Our sincere condolences to her family, loved ones and the entire immigrant community. Her death is a result of cruel inhumane policies and treatment of immigrants. We will continue to push for accountability on behalf of those who unfortunately find themselves detained, trapped without proper care or due process.
“We demand full transparency on the death of Ms. Blaise.”
From Saint Croix to Deerfield Beach
Blaise had been at the Broward center, which is owned by The Geo Group, since April 5. The agency says U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped Blaise as she started to board a flight to Charlotte from Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands without a valid immigrant visa. ICE took custody of her on February 14 and transferred her to facilities in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Oakdale, Louisiana, before she ended up at the Broward center in Deerfield Beach.
ICE said it didn’t know when or where Blaine entered the U.S. “without admission or parole.”
“What we are seeing is people traveling from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, potentially even Hawaii, [and] those officers are not understanding these people are not coming from a different country,” Jozef said.
She added that people with Temporary Protected Status and other legal protections from deportation are “being detained and transferred to ICE, who are traveling from U.S. territories [and] who should not be flagged as someone entering the U.S. when they are already in the U.S.”
Haitians and detention treatment
The treatment of Haitians locked up in U.S. immigration detention facilities has been getting increased attention in Haiti. The newspaper Le Nouvelliste in Port-au-Prince posted a story about a prominent doctor, Delange Augustin, who was taken into U.S. custody after he suffered a mental breakdown aboard an American Airlines flight from Atlanta to Miami while returning home after a U.S. fellowship on March 10.
Augustin, 31, remains in ICE custody at Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility in Lovejoy, Georgia.
In the story the doctor’s sister, Medjina Augustin, said her brother remains “unjustly detained with his critical mental health needs unaddressed.”
During the flight, Augustin experienced confusion, hallucinations and erratic behavior, which were all misdiagnosed by the crew and passengers as “spirit possession” or anxiety.
ICE’s press release on Blaise’s death says: “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health screening and 24-hour emergency care at each detention facility. At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care.”
By DAVID J. NEAL/Miami Herald
Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.
