Blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol is dead [View all]
Source: Investigative Post
Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly blind refugee from Burma who Border Patrol agents dropped off at a doughnut shop Thursday and left to find his way home, 5 miles away, has been found dead.
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Shah Alam, a Rohingya refugee, had been missing since February 19. He was released that afternoon from custody at the Erie County Holding Center after posting bail. In response to an immigration detainer that had been placed on him, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office contacted U.S. Border Patrol prior to his release, according to spokesperson Christopher Horvatits.
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After taking custody of Shah Alam, Border Patrol agents dropped him off at a Tim Hortons on Niagara Street in the Black Rock neighborhood, Macaluso said, shortly after 8 p.m. Shah Alam and his family live in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood on the East Side, according to Fazal.
Neither he nor Shah Alam’s family were notified of his release. Macaluso previously told Investigative Post he expected Shah Alam to be taken to the ICE detention center in Batavia and that his client would be released from there.
Read more: https://www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/blind-refugee-abandoned-by-border-patrol-is-dead/
This dates back to February 2025:
The woman called the police, and when Shah Alam did not follow police commands to drop his curtain rod, they tasered and beat him, his attorney said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/25/border-patrol-refugee-buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The preventable death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam is deeply disturbing and a dereliction of duty by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A vulnerable man — nearly blind and unable to speak English — was left alone on a cold winter night with no known attempt to leave him in a safe, secure location. That decision from U.S. Customs and Border Protection was unprofessional and inhumane.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection must answer for how and why this happened.
Buffalo is a city that welcomes refugees and believes government should protect human dignity, not endanger it. U.S. Customs and Border Protection failed that basic standard.
https://www.buffalony.gov/m/newsflash/home/detail/1614
So after a year in custody, he's "released" - but taken by CBP to a place he doesn't know, in a vicious Buffalo winter, and no-one who knows him is notified. He doesn't speak English, and is basically blind.
This is the CBP equivalent of abandoning someone on an icefloe, or a newborn child on a hillside.
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