The death of a nearly blind Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, Nur Amin Shah Alam, in New York sparked a major controversy when Border Patrol officers left him near a cafe, did not inform his family, and he was found dead.
Alam, 56, spoke little English and was nearly blind. He had been in jail for most of the previous year awaiting trial on criminal charges that were eventually resolved. The administration initially decided that he would be deported from the country after his exit and then the US Border Patrol was notified. But border agents decided he was ineligible for deportation when he entered the United States as a refugee on December 24, 2024.Border Patrol agents offered him a ride and drove him to the café, which was a safe, warm place near his last known address. Customs and Border Protection, which has come under fire after Alam’s mysterious death, said Alam at the time showed no signs of distress, mobility issues or disability. Benjamin Macaluso, the Legal Aid Office attorney representing Shah Alam, said he had also not been notified of Alam’s release. He said he expects Alam will be transferred to the ICE detention center in Batavia and released from there.
Macaluso’s family and Shah Alam began searching for him from Friday to Sunday and Macaluso opened a missing persons case with Buffalo police on Sunday. The case was initially closed as the investigator also believed Alam was in ICE custody but was reopened and his body was found five days later four miles from the café.
The Erie County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy and determined that Shah Alam’s cause of death was health-related.
Exposure and homicide have been ruled out, Buffalo city spokesman Nick Billing said.
Unprofessional and inhumane
Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan said Alam’s death could have been prevented, and CBP must answer how and why it happened. “A vulnerable man – nearly blind and unable to speak English – was left alone on a cold winter night without any known attempt to leave him in a safe place,” Ryan said. “This decision by US Customs and Border Protection was unprofessional and inhumane.”
Why was Allam arrested?
Muhammad Faisal, one of his sons, said that the arrest was also the result of a misunderstanding. Alam was using the curtain rod as a walking stick and wandered onto some private property and was arrested because he did not understand the officer’s command to drop the curtain rod. Shah Alam was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with intent to cause injury to an officer, one count of possession of a weapon and trespassing, among other charges, before reaching a plea agreement.Faisal said that he was not informed of his father’s release, and that he was taken to the café. He said his father did not read, write or use electronic devices.
