DHS Gets Snarky After Video Contradicts Story About Disabled Refugee Turned Up Dead

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday doubled down on its insistence that agents did nothing wrong in their handling of a disabled man whose frozen body was found several days after his release from DHS custody.

The case raised alarm after surveillance footage obtained by Investigative Post, a nonprofit news organization based in Buffalo, New York, showed Border Patrol agents abandoning Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly blind Burmese refugee. days before he was found dead on Tuesdayundermining the government’s claims about its treatment of the man.

Shah Alam, 56, was released from the Erie County Detention Center on Feb. 19, after spending most of last year awaiting trial on criminal charges before finally reaching a plea deal. Border Patrol then detained him under an immigration detainer. But they soon realized he was not eligible for deportation.

That same night, officers dropped Shah Alam, who did not speak English, at a Tim Hortons coffee shop and drove off in a white van, the video shows. Shah Alam is blind in one eye and has blurred vision in the other.

For the past two days, DHS has been using its X account to respond to numerous posts criticizing agents for leaving him in a cold parking lot.

“Here are the FACTS,” DHS said. The department said Border Patrol agents took the man on a “courtesy pick-up” to the cafeteria, which “was determined to be a warm and safe location near his last known address” and that he “showed no signs of distress, mobility issues or disabilities requiring special assistance.”

The Tim Horton was five miles from Shah Alam’s family home, the Investigative Post said.

“Would the Washington Post prefer that we force you to find transportation from the station after your arrest by local police?” DHS said in response to a Washington Post news article about the incident.

Shah Alam’s family had reportedly been in frequent contact with him while he was in the custody of local police.

Family and friends had circulated a flyer about a missing person stating that “he has back problems, difficulty walking and is in poor health.”

“He cannot use a telephone and does not know telephone numbers or addresses,” the pamphlet said.

The Tim Horton’s was also closed, except for the drive-thru window, the Investigative Post reported, and temperatures were below freezing.

In the security video, Shah Alam can be seen putting up his hood and looking in, then pacing back and forth before walking away.

Agents had not notified his family of his release.

“No one told me or my family or my lawyer where they left my father,” Mohamad Faisal, one of his sons, told Reuters.

Shah Alam was found dead five days later, on Tuesday, near KeyBank Center, a sports stadium. It is not clear how he managed to get there or when exactly he died, The News noted.

Photo via Nurul Amin Shah Alam missing persons poster distributed by friends and family.

The cause of his death remains under investigation. While the Buffalo Police Department initially said the medical examiner determined his death was “health-related,” the Erie County Health Department later said no final determination had been made.

A spokesman for Shah Alam’s family said the family “does not want his death to go to waste.”

“We want his death to raise awareness in his community, his family and his community at large. We want his name, his story to be a voice for those who still suffer,” Khaleda Shah said during the man’s funeral, according to the AP.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for an “immediate independent investigation.”

“Border Patrol took a nearly blind father, barely able to communicate, and apparently abandoned him in the cold far from his home without telling his loved ones. My heart breaks for the family of Nurul Amin Shah Alam,” Schumer said in a social media post. “He should be alive, and this should never have happened. Alam’s family deserves answers from ICE and CBP and we must conduct an immediate independent investigation.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) echoed Schumer, saying, “New Yorkers deserve answers and accountability.”

Buffalo police arrested Shah Alam last year after he ended up on a woman’s porch during a walk and allegedly failed to drop a curtain rod he was using as a cane. The police report stated that Shah Alam caused minor injuries to the officers.

One officer claimed that Shah Alam intended to hurt police, an allegation disputed by Shah Alam’s attorney, who told the Investigative Post that his client was surprised at the moment.

The case raises new concerns about the actions of federal immigration agents amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort.