Haitian woman complaining of chest pain and told to ‘lie down’ dies at ICE facility

A Haitian woman died at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility after she complained of chest pain and was told to “lie down.”

Marie Ange Blaise, 44, died while in custody at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida, on April 25, ICE confirmed.

ICE said the cause of death is under investigation, but one detainee told the Miami Herald that Blaise complained about chest pains on the day she died.

“After her blood pressure measured with a top number of 156, the detainee said, Blaise was given some pills and sent to lie down,” the Herald reports.

Another detainee told the newspaper that Blaise “started shaking” and “screaming, ‘My chest! My chest!” She was pronounced dead at 8:35 p.m.

Blaise had been at the detention facility, owned by the Geo Group, since April 5 and had passed through multiple ICE detention facilities before then. According to ICE, she entered the United States on an unknown date without admission or parole.

ICE said that on February 12, Blaise was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after she tried to board a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, from the U.S. Virgin Islands without a valid immigration visa.

She was issued with a Notice of Expedited Removal and taken to an ICE staging facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and later moved to Richwood Correctional Center in Oakdale, Louisiana.

From there, she was transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Florida, where she died.

Advocacy groups called for “full transparency” about Blaise’s death in ICE custody.

“Her death is a result of cruel inhumane policies and treatment of immigrants,” Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said in a statement. “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.”

ICE said that “at no time” during detention are detainees denied emergency care.

“Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay,” ICE said in a news release. “All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health screening and 24-hour emergency care at each detention facility.”