DHS Caught Lying About Blind Refugee Left to Die in Buffalo

The Department of Homeland Security was caught lying Thursday about abandoning a blind refugee who was later found dead on the street.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed that the Tim Hortons in Buffalo where federal agents left Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old Burmese refugee who was blind and spoke no English, was “determined to be a warm, safe location near his last known address.”

Video footage reviewed by The Washington Post, however, showed that the location had already closed, except for the drive-thru.

In video footage released by IP, Shah Alam could be seen walking past the drive-thru window, then pacing by the locked front doors, before he eventually wandered across the parking lot toward a Dollar Tree. The Border Patrol agents drove away after one minute.

Shah Alam was blind and spoke no English. He was found dead on Tuesday.

Shah Alam was arrested more than a year ago when he was out for a walk and got lost. The refugee was using a curtain rod as a walking stick that police alleged he was “swinging in a menacing manner.” He was tased, beaten, and arrested. He later pleaded guilty to trespassing and misdemeanor possession of a weapon.

After Border Patrol determined that the charges did not render Shah Alam removable, they should have returned him to the holding center where sheriff’s deputies could contact his family to retrieve him.

But Shah Alam’s lawyer was not contacted, and neither was his family. It was Border Patrol who requested custody of Shah Alam after his release, according to Christopher Horvatits, a spokesperson for the Erie County Sheriff’s Office. While Shah Alam’s family waited for a call to pick him up, the holding center called Border Patrol instead.

Border Patrol agents offered Shah Alam a “courtesy ride,” according to Michael Niezgoda, a spokesperson for Customs and Border Patrol. But Shah Alam wasn’t returned to his last known address, or his family’s address. Instead, he was brought to the parking lot of a closed coffee shop miles away from his home, and left there.

“I feel like in a situation like this, we wouldn’t necessarily be here if [Border Patrol] had just exercised a little bit of humanity,” said Siana McLean, Shah Alam’s immigration attorney.