Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/AP) - A nearly blind refugee from Myanmar who disappeared after U.S. Border Patrol agents dropped him off at a Tim Hortons in Buffalo was found dead five days later, prompting a police investigation and complaints from Western New York officials that he'd been abandoned without care for his safety.
56-year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam was detained by Border Patrol agents on Feb. 19 after his release from the Erie County Holding Center, but was let go that same day after federal authorities determined he wasn't eligible for deportation.
The agents brought him to the Tim Hortons that's north of Buffalo's downtown and dropped him there, according to authorities and advocates. His family, which had initially expected him to walk out of jail, began searching for him after being informed of the drop-off and reported him missing.
Shah Alam was found dead Tuesday night near KeyBank Center downtown. It was unclear how he got there from the Tim Hortons, several miles away, or when he died.
The county medical examiner determined the cause of death was "health related in nature", and ruled out exposure or homicide, according to the Buffalo Police Department. Detectives were investigating the events leading up to his death, first reported by the Investigative Post.
During the days Shah Alam was missing, temperatures in Buffalo fell below freezing and light snow fell.
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Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan is among local officials seeking answers in this incident, and expresses frustration with the actions of federal agents, who he says "don't know what they're doing."
"A Border Patrol agent picked up this man from the Holding Center custody, drove him to an ICE facility, and the ICE facility said, 'We don't want this guy.' And then the Border Patrol officers had no protocol of what to do with a disabled man who doesn't speak English, who is confused and lost. And you know what they did? They dropped them at a closed coffee shop," said Ryan on Thursday. "That's why we do not cooperate with ICE, Homeland Security and Border Patrol."
Ryan issued an Executive Order a few weeks ago, saying city officials - including the Buffalo Police Department - will not interact or help the Department of Homeland Security in their civil immigration enforcement actions.
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It is unclear to Ryan, at this point, who bailed Shah Alam out of the Erie County Holding Center, but is hoping to have more answers provided to him from Erie County Sheriff John Garcia and Erie County District Attorney Mike Keane.
What Ryan does know is the Border Patrol agents didn't take him back to the Holding Center, where he feels staff there could have helped get Shah Alam in contact with his family.
"If they had taken him back to the Holding Center, the desk sergeant could have reviewed his visitor log and showed that his son was a regular visitor, here is his phone number. They could have showed that his lawyer was an active visitor, here's his phone number. And they could have showed that his immigration lawyer was an active visitor, and here's his phone number. There would have been ways to contact the family so you didn't leave somebody out in the cold," Ryan said.
According to preliminary information the mayor received, he said Shah Alam didn't have shoes on, but orange booties that were issued from the Holding Center. Not only does he say it's bad policing on part of the Border Patrol agents, but it's also bad human beings.
"That is an inhumane thing to do," Ryan said. "A Buffalo police officer, in this situation, would have taken this person to any of the various shelters in the City of Buffalo. They would have taken the steps to try to identify what's going on with this person. Remember, he doesn't speak English. He obviously has a disability, and he's blind. There was no way for him to convey to the border officers what he wanted to do. So they let him out of the car."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection defended its actions in a prepared statement on Wednesday:
“Border Patrol agents offered him a courtesy ride, which he chose to accept to a coffee shop, determined to be a warm, safe location near his last known address, rather than be released directly from the Border Patrol station. He showed no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance.”
Ryan feels it is up to the federal government and CBP to further investigate this matter, but felt the statement put out was "full of conclusions of what their officers and what their department did, but they did it without an investigation."
Ryan adds his office has talked with local officials in Washington about this matter, and they continue to go back-and-forth as everyone attempts to get a handle on this.
"Under normal times, you could call into the officials who run Border Patrol and get answers. But these are not normal times. These are times where there are conclusions drawn without investigations, and this is what's happening here," Ryan added. "The Border Patrol issued a statement saying everything's OK, but there's no investigation. There's no release of files, there's no release of interviews."
"The family of Nurul Amin Shah Alam and our community deserve answers on the events that led to his death," said U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a statement. "I am deeply disturbed by reports that after taking him into custody, Border Patrol agents left Mr. Shah Alam at a Tim Hortons, miles from his home, without notifying his family or attorney before he was found dead. If true, this is absolutely unacceptable. The Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and local law enforcement must provide a full accounting of what has occurred and ensure this never happens again."
Congressman Tim Kennedy (NY-26) called the death of Shah Alam a "horrific and heartbreaking tragedy" in a statement on Wednesday.
"Mr. Alam should be alive and with his loved ones today. Instead, after days of fear and uncertainty, his family is now grieving an unimaginable loss," Kennedy said in his statement. "There must be a full and transparent investigation at the local, state, and federal levels. The public and Mr. Alam’s family deserve answers immediately."
Kennedy has since sent a formal request to New York State Attorney General Letitia James, seeking an investigation from her office into the death of Shah Alam.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has also released the following statement on the death of Shah Alam:
"A rogue deportation agenda is operating with zero transparency and even less accountability.
"Yesterday, a blind father was released from federal custody and left alone on the street to find his way home. He never made it back to his family. This morning, ICE agents misled campus security and took a young woman from her college dorm without a judicial warrant.
"No one should disappear at the hands of the government. No student should be taken from their dorm through deception. These incidents demand an independent investigation and real accountability. New York will not look the other way. If Washington won’t restore order and take action, New York will. We must act now and pass my comprehensive immigration legislation to keep New Yorkers safe."
Shah Alam arrived in the United States with his wife and two of his children in December 2024 in search of opportunity for his family, said Imran Fazal, who knows the family and founded of the Rohingya Empowerment Community. He had worked in construction for many years previously in Malaysia.
Buffalo police arrested Shah Alam a year ago after an incident that resulted in minor injuries to two officers. He was initially indicted on charges of assault, burglary and criminal mischief, according to Erie County District Attorney Mike Keane.
Fazal said the arrest was a misunderstanding based on the language barrier and cultural differences, and that Shah Alam had been taking shelter from the snow near a house at the time. Shah Alam ultimately pleaded guilty Feb. 9 to misdemeanor charges of trespassing and possession of a weapon and was scheduled to be sentenced in March.
Keane, the district attorney, said he had offered Fazal a reduced plea "in the interest of justice.” One factor in the decision was avoiding the mandatory deportation that would result from a felony conviction, he said.
Fazal said the family was able to post bail and went to the county jail Thursday expecting Shah Alam to be released.
“The family was waiting in the waiting room,” Fazal said. “They were thinking he was just coming out.”
But since federal Border Patrol had lodged an immigration detainer after his arrest, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office followed standard practice and informed the federal agency about his pending release. The Border Patrol arrived at the jail before the release was finalized, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
Shah Alam's family searched for him after his attorney was notified about the Thursday night drop off at a Tim Hortons, but could not locate him, said Fazal.
“He should not be dropped off in a location where he doesn’t know anybody,” Fazal said. “He doesn’t speak English.”
Fazal called it "a complete failure of the system.”