Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - There are still many questions unanswered surrounding the circumstances relating to the death of a Burmese refugee in Buffalo who was dropped off at a Tim Hortons by Border Patrol agents last week Thursday, only to be found dead five days later, miles away from the coffee shop.
After being detained by Border Patrol agents on Feb. 19 from the Erie County Holding Center, 56-year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam was later dropped off at the Tim Hortons on 2207 Niagara Street that evening, only to then end up dead just outside KeyBank Center downtown along Perry Street.
For local immigration attorney Rosanna Berardi of Berardi Immigration Law, she feels there was quite a communication gap between several law enforcement agencies that contributed to what happened to Shah Alam. This is especially the case with his release from not just the Erie County Holding Center, but also the Border Patrol agents.
"The protocol from the government is really to ensure that the person definitely has safety, has transportation support, housing, whether they need assistance with legal counsel, and if there's any type of risk or vulnerability that requires special accommodations. Now, this is internal guidance, not federal rule or anything," said Berardi during an appearance on WBEN with Brian Mazurowski and Susan Rose.
One of the questions Berardi has in this incident is why the Border Patrol agents did not utilize an interpreter service when trying to deal with Shah Alam, who was said to have spoken little-to-no English.
"There's tons-and-tons of people that don't speak English that are in the law enforcement system in Western New York and all over the U.S., for that matter, and there are a lot of interpreter services that the agencies use. If they realize that somebody only speak Spanish and there's no Spanish speakers, there's a phone number they can call and get an interpreter. So the government has these provisions, it's nothing new," Berardi noted. "They've been using them for a really long time. Why that didn't occur in this situation, I'm not really sure. We just don't know a lot of the details on the internal processing of Mr. Alam."
One red flag for Berardi was the agents' disregard for Shah Alam not being properly fit for the cold winter conditions outdoors when he was dropped off at the Tim Hortons. Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan had noted on Thursday that Shah Alam was only wearing orange prison booties when he was left by the agents, not any shoes.
"It seemed like the [District Attorney's] Office wasn't even aware that he was being released, and he was somehow released. And Customs and Border Protection determined he was here lawfully as a refugee, so he was not somebody that should be detained. They did not bring him into the detention facility, but then they use their internal guidance to drop him off," Berardi said. "And they may have asked him is this OK? He may have said yes, not knowing. I don't really know what exactly happened there, but it's winter time in Buffalo. And one would question why you would drop somebody off that wasn't properly dressed at a Tim Hortons. Maybe that Tim Hortons was close to his last address that was reported on law enforcement documents, but nonetheless, it just doesn't make sense to me."
Where Berardi is also hoping for more clarity is what happened at the Erie County Holding Center that resulted in Shah Alam's release, and the District Attorney's Office not being notified.
"We have so many people in very large government agencies that, oftentimes, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. For the most part, things work. Every once in a while, they don't. And unfortunately, this just seems like the perfect storm of miscommunication between the DA's Office, CBP, the family, the attorney," Berardi explained. "It just seems like nobody knew what was actually happening, and unfortunately, we have a tragic result. I'm not saying it's OK at all. I am saying there are a ton of people in these agencies, everyone short staffed, and it's just an incredibly challenging time."
What does Berardi believe should come from a case like this? When all is said and done, she believes the full story will eventually come out.
"I see a lot of politicians demanding an investigation. CBP has made a statement, which is kind of unusual. They don't usually make statements on specific cases, but I think this is not the end of this story," Berardi said. "We know a little bit of the timeline, but I think there's going to be an internal investigation as to why he was dropped off without proper clothing or shoes at the Tim Hortons that was closed in the middle of winter in Buffalo. I think that part will really be unraveled. We don't know the cause of death, at this point, so once those results come out, I think there's going to be a lot of issues here. I'm not sure what the family is going to do, in terms of litigation, but this story is not over yet, because we don't have all of the pieces to it."
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