Baby Michael Futi Buried in Hawaii

Michael Tony Futi, at 2 weeks old never got a chance at life. He died in a locked holding room with his mother screaming at uncaring officials for help. He was on the way to have heart surgery at Kapiolani Hospital in Honolulu, accompanied by his mother, Luaipou and a nurse when all three were detained by immigration officials at Honolulu airport. It is still unclear why they were being detained. In a tearful interview with KITV, Luaipou explained what happened and said the family intends to sue.

Tony Futi, the baby's father, who works for Goodyear in American Samoa, said that funeral arrangements are being carried out by the Hawaii National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai Faith of which he and his family are members. This is because Bahai rules state that the body must be buried where the person dies, if it would take more than 10 hours to transport that body elsewhere. Michael Futi will be buried on Saturday in Hawaii. The Futi's have relatives in Hawaii and Tony was making travel arrangements to attend the funeral. See his interview with Malama TV News here.

Tony said he never thought his son would die the way he did. “We were praying that his surgery would be successful,” he said. He also said that the only pictures of the baby were the two taken for his travel documents. He has no other pictures to remind him of his dead son. If he had known that he would never see or hold him again he would have taken more.

According to LBJ General Counsel Terry Lovelace, all travel documents for baby Michael Futi, his mother Luaitou and a nurse had been in order and he sees no reason Honolulu airport authorities held them up. He explained that the hospital obtained a visa waiver for the baby’s mother who is a Samoan citizen so she could travel with her son. Lovelace said they were "shocked and horrified" to learn that the baby died while being detained. According to the family attorney Rick Fried, the baby, his mother and a nurse had been the first ones to get off the plane and the first in line at Immigrations and Customs check-points when they were detained.

Despite the baby having an IV, the authorities decided to hold them in a warm room.

14-Day-Old Baby Dies in Custody

Michael Tony Futi was just 14 days old. He was born in Tafuna, American Samoa's largest village, which is located on the east coast of Tutuila Island, on Jan. 25, 2008. He was sick and traveling to Hawaii for heart surgery with his mother, Luaipou Fiti, and a nurse. While on the flight the baby was reported to have been on oxygen because he was having trouble breathing.

They were all detained by immigration officials after landing at Honolulu International Airport on Friday Feb. 8, 2008. The Hawaiian Airlines flight landed at 5:30am. For unknown reasons, all three were placed in a locked room. Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said the child went into respiratory failure while in the customs office, which is located near the baggage claims area of the overseas terminal.

An Hawaiian lawyer, Rick Fried has expressed disbelief that immigration authorities would lock a sick child in a room and says the baby died because of the callousness of the customs and immigration personnel:

“They were locked in this room and could not get out and when both the mother and the nurse were screaming for help, call 911, the people outside were saying stay calm, relax. Finally about five minutes later when the baby was in terrible trouble someone opened the door and then about ten minutes after that the emergency medical people came.”

In a television interview with KITV, Jim Kosciuk of Customs and Border Protection claimed there were "no delays" in processing the group and that airport EMS and 911 were "immediately called" and the baby was rushed to the hospital.

DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa claims that no-one was aware that they were dealing with a sick baby: "We were later told the baby was coming here for heart surgery," he said.

According to police, the child died at 5:50 a.m. Emergency Medical Service didn't arrived until 6:15 a.m. and took the child to a hospital emergency room where efforts to revive Futi were unsuccessful. Attorney Rick Fried of Cronin, Fried, Sekiya, Kekina & Fairbanks plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit.