Washington, DC – Advocacy teams are calling for solutions after an Afghan asylum seeker in the USA died simply hours after being taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers.
The dying of 41-year-old Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal comes at a time when the administration of US President Donald Trump has surged immigration enforcement as a part of a mass deportation marketing campaign.
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That drive has usually touched on the lives of the about 70,000 Afghans evacuated to the US within the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, like Paktyawal, who labored alongside US forces throughout Washington’s two-year army deployment to the nation. Hundreds of different Afghans fearing Taliban reprisal have since relocated to the US.
Paktyawal’s household described him as a “loving husband and father” with six kids who labored at a halal market and bakery close to his dwelling in Richardson, Texas.
In a press release relayed by the AfghanEvac advocacy group, they stated he was detained on March 13 as he left to drop his kids off at college.
“His kids watched as he was surrounded and brought away,” the household stated in a press release. “That second will stick with them endlessly”.
Lower than 24 hours later, they have been notified he had been rushed to the hospital, the place he died.
“We can’t perceive how this occurred. He was solely 41 years previous and was a robust and wholesome man,” they stated. “His kids maintain asking when he’ll come dwelling”.
‘Abdication of the obligation of care’
For its half, ICE stated in a press release that Paktyawal had complained of shortness of breath and chest pains whereas being processed. He was then rushed to close by Parkland Hospital, the place he was administered care.
The following morning, the company stated, medical workers seen that Paktyawal’s tongue was swelling, saying: “after a number of lifesaving efforts have been tried, he was declared deceased at 9:10am”.
ICE additional described Paktyawal, also referred to as Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, as a “prison unlawful alien”, saying he had beforehand been arrested by “native authorities” for fraud and theft involving meals advantages from the US Supplemental Diet Help Program (SNAP).
However talking to Al Jazeera, Shawn VanDiver, the founding father of AfghanEvac, stated the “prison” label was meant to distract from Paktyawal’s dying. He stated Paktyawal was by no means charged, not to mention convicted, following the arrests.
“They don’t say that he was by no means charged, they don’t say that he was by no means convicted,” VanDiver stated.
“It isn’t regular for an in any other case wholesome, 41-year-old man to die inside 24 hours of being introduced into custody,” he stated. “His dying is indicative of an abdication of the obligation of care.”
AfghanEvac stated that Paktyawal had labored as an Afghan particular forces soldier starting in 2005, working alongside US Military particular forces in Paktika province.
The Afghan-American Basis was among the many teams calling for a full investigation.
“No matter one’s views on immigration coverage, a person who served alongside US forces for over a decade, who was evacuated to the US with authorized standing, who was elevating his household right here, who was residing the lifetime of a neighbor and a dad, deserved to be handled with dignity,” the organisation stated in a press release.
“He deserved fundamental, satisfactory care. He deserved to outlive,” it stated.
Hardline immigration insurance policies
Paktyawal’s dying comes as rights teams have repeatedly warned of the remedy of immigration detainees within the US, whose numbers have surged amid the Trump administration’s enforcement crackdown.
Immigration consultants have stated that this has included the elevated detention of refugees and asylum seekers, who’re in any other case legally allowed to be within the nation.
All informed, in keeping with the American Immigration Council, the variety of folks in ICE detention surged throughout Trump’s first yr in workplace, growing from 40,000 to 73,000 as of January 2026.
Afghans residing within the US, in the meantime, have confronted particular scrutiny from the Trump administration.
After an Afghan nationwide shot two Nationwide Guard members in Washington, DC, in November 2025, killing one of many troopers, the administration introduced it was pausing the issuance of recent visas to Afghan nationals, in addition to halting selections on asylum circumstances.
Advocacy teams have decried the move as “collective punishment”.
Even Afghans who labored alongside US forces or different organisations – a bunch that has historically had bipartisan assist – haven’t been spared from the hardline insurance policies.
Whereas a courtroom has ordered that Particular Immigrant Visas (SIVs), that are reserved for people who labored immediately in assist of the US army, should nonetheless be processed by the administration, advocates say the programme has basically floor to a halt.
The Trump administration has successfully shut refugee pathways for Afghans, curbing the US refugee programme and as an alternative prioritising white South Africans.
The administration additionally ended non permanent protected standing for Afghans, leaving an estimated 11,700 Afghans within the US with out safety from deportation, in keeping with the organisation International Refuge.
