More than 100 people gathered inside the Boston Teachers Union building Saturday to honor Emmanuel Cleeford Damas, who died earlier this month in detention at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Arizona.
Dressed in black, mourners sat and stared at Damas’ coffin, above which stood a picture of him with the words “We Can Take Care of a Toothache.”
The family of Damas, 56, say an untreated toothache while in the detention facility quickly spiraled to serious medical conditions.
Presly Nelson, his brother, said in his eulogy speech that Damas was a caring man.
“My brother was not perfect, none of us are,” Nelson said. “But what must never be forgotten is his heart. He had a big heart, one that gave, even when he had little. He shared, he protected, he loved his own way.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in a March statement that everyone in ICE custody receives health screenings within 12 hours of arriving at a detention facility, including dental. The statement said medical staff “found no serious medical issues” when Damas arrived in Arizona.
At Saturday’s service, Boston City Councilor Ruthzee Loujiene told the gathering that ICE must be held accountable.
“We have to sit with ourselves and this truth that something went gravely wrong,” Loujiene said. “That a life that mattered was lost in a system that is meant to uphold the law.”
When it was his turn to deliver a eulogy, Damas’ other brother, Presner Nelson, said that his brother was just like any other person.
“He wasn’t an illegal alien, as some might call some migrants,” Presner Nelson said. “Let me make it clear. We are human beings, not aliens. We are not aliens. We are human beings. We are one people created by God. We’re breathing the same air, our blood is the same color.”
Damas arrived in Dorchester legally in 2024 from Haiti through the Biden Administration’s Humanitarian Parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. He was taken into ICE custody in Boston last September after the Boston Police Department arrested him for an alleged domestic assault charge.
So far this year 13 people – including Damas – have died in ICE custody across the country, according to the agency’s own records. Thirty-one people died in ICE custody in 2025.
During his eulogy speech, Presly Nelson remembered first bringing his brother to America. He said Damas was excited and had simple dreams: he wanted to go to New York; he wanted to save enough money to buy himself a BMW; and he wanted an apartment to support his two sons and his mother. Presly Nelson said he didn’t get to achieve any of those dreams.
As Presly Nelson closed his eulogy, he looked over at Damas’ coffin.
“I love you,” he said. “I’m sorry for bringing you into this mess.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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