Featured Image Credit: Nurul Amin Shah Alam
Topics: News, US News, Politics, Donald Trump, Crime
Rhianna Benson
Topics: News, US News, Politics, Donald Trump, Crime
A visually-impaired refugee was found dead on the streets of Buffalo, New York, this week - days after being released by Border Force agents.
The body of 56-year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam was located by police officers at 8.30pm on Tuesday (24 Feb).
The upstate city was enduring below-freezing temperatures of around -6 degrees at the time.
According to 9 News, a medical examination was subsequently performed on Alam's body, with the coroner ruling out both homicide and exposure as possible causes of death.
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Five days prior to his passing, on Thursday 19 February, Myanmar-born Alam - who, friends claim spoke very little English - had been released from custody by a group of Border Patrol agents, after he was transferred to them by members of the Erie County Sheriff's Department last year.
He'd been arrested the previous February on assault, trespassing and weapons possession charges.
The father-of-two had arrived in the US as a Rohingya refugee 15 months prior to his arrest.
His son, Mohamad Faisal, claims, however, that his father was jailed last year following a misunderstanding. Police had found him wandering onto a private property carrying a curtain rod he'd just purchased.
Alam had reportedly intended to use the rod as a walking stick, being almost entirely blind.
Faisal claims his father had tried to explain his use of the rod, but couldn't communicate, seeing him placed behind bars for a year.
Though the family had been informed of Alam's release from prison following a misdemeanour plea deal last week, no one from the Border Control agency attempted to get in touch with them, nor Alam's lawyer, to disclose where he was to be dropped off.
By Saturday (21 Feb), they'd still hadn't heard anything. Concerned, the group filed a missing persons report.
Little did they know, however, that he'd been released from Border Control custody onto the streets of Buffalo and dropped at a coffee shop.
Alam's family had moved residency months earlier, and their new home was situated over 8km from the cafe he'd been left at.
According to his heartbroken loved ones, there was no way of knowing where he was.
The city's mayor, Sean Ryan, has since slammed Alam's death as 'deeply disturbing' as well as 'a dereliction of duty' by Border Patrol agents.
He continued: "A vulnerable man - nearly blind and unable to speak English - was left alone on a cold winter night with no known attempt to leave him in a safe, secure location. That decision from US Customs and Border Protection was unprofessional and inhumane."
Ryan went on to urge: "US Customs and Border Protection must answer for how and why this happened."
In response, a statement from the force was released to the press, which read: "Border Patrol agents offered him a courtesy ride, which he chose to accept to a coffee shop, determined to be a warm, safe location near his last known address, rather than be released directly from the Border Patrol station.
"He showed no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance."
Alam's death has occurred in the midst of an increasingly-violent and severely controversial crackdown in the US on illegal immigrants, being led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents under the authority of right-wing leader Donald Trump.
According to Al Jazeera, six other immigrants have died since the beginning of this year whilst in ICE custody.