An Afghan immigrant who had worked with the U.S. military died at a Texas hospital after immigration authorities detained him, according to federal officials and a statement from his family.
Federal immigration officials identified the man as Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said he had been detained by ICE and that his death followed treatment at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office was still pending a determination of the cause of death.
Bis, a DHS spokesperson, said Paktyawal complained of shortness of breath and chest pain during a medical intake exam at a Dallas ICE field office. She said he was taken to Parkland Hospital and that on Saturday, medical staff treated him after his tongue became swollen.
The report said that later in the morning, staff performed CPR on Paktyawal, and he was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m. CDT. ICE said his death was under investigation.
Federal officials described Paktyawal as a “criminal” and said he had been arrested for alleged fraudulent use of food stamps and for theft. ICE said Paktyawal had been arrested for committing fraud against SNAP, the government’s biggest food aid program, on Sept. 16, and it said he also had been arrested for theft by Garland police on Nov. 1. A Dallas County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said there is an active case involving SNAP benefits fraud of $200 or more, described as a third-degree felony, that had not been resolved.
The Garland police account, as described in the report, said Paktyawal was arrested on Nov. 1 after an accusation that he did not pay for groceries and merchandise from a Walmart. A misdemeanor case related to the arrest had not yet been filed with the district attorney’s office, a spokesperson said.
Paktyawal’s family said he was not ill, and it said it could not understand how his condition progressed to the point that he died soon after entering ICE custody. The family also said his children were asking when their father would come home, according to a statement shared in the report.
#AfghanEvac, a San Diego-based group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted U.S. forces, pushed back against the federal account. VanDiver said that calling Paktyawal a criminal without a conviction, and saying there was “no record” of his military service without checking interagency systems, appeared inconsistent with a “fact-finding” process. He argued that the federal government should explain how the 41-year-old father of six died less than 24 hours after entering ICE custody.
U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, who visited the Dallas ICE field office on Monday, also raised concerns. Johnson, a Democrat who represents parts of Dallas County, said the DHS and ICE have a history of “lying and misrepresenting” the backgrounds of people they arrest or encounter. She said Paktyawal was not a violent criminal and that she had been told by his family that he had applied for asylum and his case was pending, while she said ICE agents were claiming he missed asylum appointments.
The report said Paktyawal had previously served alongside U.S. military special forces in Afghanistan and came to the United States after U.S. troops withdrew and the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021. It said he lived in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas.
ICE deaths in custody have become a focus of political debate, the report said. It cited that ICE reported 14 custody deaths from the start of the government’s fiscal year Oct. 1 through Jan. 6, on pace to surpass the previous 12-month count of 24, and it noted ICE reported 12 custody deaths in the 2024 fiscal year and 12 in the prior three years combined. The report also said ICE has increased the number of people in detention centers to more than 70,000 from about 40,000 at the start of President Trump’s second term, and that it plans to spend $38.3 billion to boost capacity to 92,600 beds by the end of November.