A man from Myanmar, almost blind and missing since his release from a Buffalo (United States) prison in the custody of the Border Patrol, has been found dead on a downtown street, municipal authorities reported on Wednesday, quote .
Police in the upstate New York city of Buffalo located the body of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, on Tuesday night, according to a Buffalo Police Department spokesperson.
Shah Alam had been missing since Feb. 19, when U.S. Border Patrol agents dropped him off at a coffee shop about five miles from his home after being released from a county jail, where he had spent much of the last year awaiting trial on criminal charges that resulted in a plea deal for a misdemeanor.
The man, who barely knew English, also did not carry his cane, which was left in the administrative offices, and without which he could barely move, and even more so in unknown terrain.
Homicide detectives are investigating the circumstances of Shah Alam’s death, the spokesman said.
Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan, a Democrat, declared Wednesday that Shah Alam’s death was preventable and the result of “inhumane” decisions by federal immigration authorities.
“A vulnerable man, nearly blind and unable to speak English, was left alone on a cold winter night with no known safe haven,” Ryan said. “That decision by U.S. Customs and Border Protection was unprofessional and inhumane.”
“A vulnerable man, almost blind and unable to speak English, was left alone on a cold winter night with no knowledge that he had been left in a safe place”
The justifications
In a statement to a Buffalo-based media outlet, a CBP spokesperson said agents dropped Shah Alam off at a coffee shop after they determined he had entered the country as a refugee and could not be deported.
“Border Patrol agents offered him a courtesy ride, which he accepted to a coffee shop, considered a warm and safe place near his last known address, rather than being released directly from the Border Patrol station,” the agency stated. “He showed no signs of distress, mobility problems or disabilities requiring special assistance.”
“He showed no signs of distress, mobility problems or disabilities requiring special assistance”
Temperatures in Buffalo, a city near the Canadian border, were below freezing last weekend.
The Erie County Prosecutor’s Office said Shah Alam was arrested a year ago following an incident that resulted in minor injuries to two Buffalo Police officers. Shah Alam was released on bail this month after accepting a plea deal, prosecutors said.
Following Shah Alam’s arrest, he issued an immigration detainer, a formal request to take custody of a foreign national upon his scheduled release from a criminal detention center.
In response to the immigration detainer, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office contacted the U.S. Border Patrol prior to Shah Alam’s release, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson.
a misunderstanding
Mohamad Faisal, one of Shah Alam’s sons, explained in a text message that his father’s arrest a year ago was due to a misunderstanding with police officers.
Shah Alam, who did not speak English, had been out for a walk and had been using a curtain rod he bought as a cane, Faisal explained.
Shah Alam got lost and wandered onto the property of a Buffalo resident who called police, Faisal said. When Shah Alam did not understand police orders to lower the curtain rod, they arrested him, his son said.
Upon his release last week, “No one told me, or my family, or my lawyer where they left my father,” Faisal said.
Shah Alam did not read, write or use electronic devices, he added. Shah Alam just wanted to “eat home-cooked food” and “be united with the rest of his family,” Faisal added. The family is made up of Rohingya refugees from Arakan.
