The death of an Afghan asylum seeker who died shortly after being detained by ICE four months ago, allegedly from an allergic reaction, is raising questions over a lack of transparency.
On 14 March, 41-year-old Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal reportedly died of an allergic reaction at a hospital in Texas after being seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained around 24 hours earlier. Use of methamphetamine was also listed as a cause of death, though his family said he did not use the substance. His death certificate was issued 103 days after his passing.
According to public statements from his family, Paktyawal was preparing his children for school when ICE agents apprehended him. As they were taking him away, his wife said she tried to give them his inhaler, which he relied on for breathing issues, but she said she was not allowed to hand it over.
He is one of many Afghans who have been targeted by ICE over the past year and a half, despite the community's work with US forces.
ICE have pointed to allegations of welfare fraud, though the relatively small-scale cases had not yet been heard in court at the time of his detention. In one instance, he reportedly bought dishes with his welfare benefits, not knowing the service was limited to food purchases.
ICE had initially said there was no record of his military service, though there are public reports of his service in the Special Forces. He was evacuated from Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul and was then paroled into the US. After relocating to the US, he worked as a market worker, a baker, and a driver.
In their death announcement, ICE identified Paktyawal as a criminal illegal alien, a term at odds with the promise of the US government to take care of their Afghan allies who had risked their lives to work alongside US forces.
Rights groups, Afghan advocacy organisations and politicians are calling for more transparency and an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
“It is highly unusual for a 41-year-old man to die less than 24 hours after being taken into government custody, particularly where there are emerging questions about access to medical care,” AfghanEvac, a US veterans group that supports Afghan allies, wrote in a public statement.
“Mr Paktyawal survived the war in Afghanistan and trusted the United States enough to rebuild his life here,” wrote the group.
“Let me just say very simply, what's happening here smacks of a cover-up. Without being unfair to ICE or the Department of Homeland Security, the refusal to release these records creates doubts and suspicions that raise the spectre of some kind of cover-up,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who serves on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, according to local news reports .
According to the Associated Press , out of the more than 50 ICE detention deaths, Paktyawal’s is the first one ruled an accident. Most others were attributed to natural causes and suicide.