DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – In a city that prides itself on resilience and community, Detroit has once again showcased its unparalleled talent for bureaucratic lethargy. This time, the victims were two innocent children, Darnell, 9, and Amillah, 2, who tragically froze to death in a van parked in the Hollywood Casino’s garage. Their family had been living in that van for months, navigating the city’s unforgiving streets and an even more unforgiving system.

Authorities believe the children died of hypothermia after their mother’s van either ran out of gas or broke down. Three other children survived and the investigation remains ongoing with no arrests at the time of publication.

A cry for help met with silence.

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The family’s plight wasn’t due to a lack of effort on their part. According to a Detroit News report, the mother, 29-year-old Tateona Williams, had reached out to Detroit’s homeless response team at least three times, with the most recent plea on November 25, 2024. Their situation was dire: they had been staying with relatives but were told they’d need to find another place. Despite this, their calls for assistance were met with bureaucratic indifference because their situation wasn’t deemed to be an “emergency.” Because of this, no emergency outreach was dispatched, and the family was left to fend for themselves in the brutal cold of a Michigan winter.

Tateona told Fox 2 Detroit, “And every time I call they said they don’t have a bed, they don’t have family beds.”

Mayor Mike Duggan, who is running as an independent in the 2026 state gubernatorial election, said about the tragedy in a press conference, “We have to make sure that we do everything possible to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. I’m not trying to talk about an individual employee. I’m talking about the system as a whole.”

Duggan ordered a review of the city’s homeless services, including the homeless call center and efforts to improve accessibility. He added about the tragedy, “The heartbreaking part of this is that there were family shelter beds available just a few miles away.” It’s a revelation that adds salt to the wound, highlighting a systemic failure where available resources are rendered useless by a lack of effective communication and outreach.

Priorities in question.

Although the mayor claims housing was available for the family when the mother last requested it in November, the city has notably prioritized accommodating an influx of refugees and migrants due to former President Biden’s open-border policies.

Just last year, Outlier Media reported that because of the illegal immigrants flooding into Detroit, the city decided to open additional beds and tapped into vacant facilities to ensure that these “newcomers” could be housed amidst struggling to provide housing for more than 8,500 already in need.

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Seydi Sarr, founder of the Detroit-based nonprofit ABISA had said at the time, “If I call the city right now and say I have 100 people who need housing, the shelters don’t have it.”

When existing Detroiters, especially vulnerable children, are freezing to death on the streets, one must question how providing housing for illegal immigrants affects the allocation of resources and attention to the homeless already in the community. The mayor reported that the homeless outreach workers helping the city include two employed by the city and 32 others who are funded providers. However, the outreach workers she dealt with determined that the family’s situation wasn’t an emergency and didn’t follow up on the mom’s request for shelter according to the Detroit News report.

A call for accountability.

This tragedy seems to be yet another government failure, where misplaced priorities, mismanaged resources, and a lack of coordination have let down the most vulnerable. It’s a glaring indication that Detroit’s leadership needs to reassess its approach to homelessness and resource allocation. One of those glaring examples is the fact that the city’s Housing Resource HelpLine only operates Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6 pm and Saturdays from 9 am to noon. If someone needs a place to stay outside of those days and times, they are out of luck. The mayor said that he wants the people who finally do reach someone on the HelpLine to get good information to solve their problem – and if there are minors involved, he wants outreach workers to automatically do a site visit.

Detroit has approximately 18 homeless and warming shelters including the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries who has about 650 beds. However, 460 of those shelter beds are for men. Chad Audi, CEO of the organization, says that there are many parts of the city’s homeless system that need to be changed including making the HelpLine available 24/7. He has also said their organization is willing to help make that happen.

Darnell and Amillah didn’t have to die. Their mother’s repeated pleas for help should have been met with action, not apathy. Yet, Detroit’s bureaucratic red tape, rigid policies, and misplaced priorities appears to have contributed to their deaths. Unfortunately, this wasn’t just a government failure – it was a death sentence.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up for the family and can be found here.