Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, a 41‑year‑old Afghan who spent a decade serving alongside U.S. special forces, died at Dallas’s Parkland Hospital on March 16, 2026, less than 24 hours after ICE officials took him into custody. Federal immigration officials said Paktyawal was arrested on alleged SNAP‑fraud and theft charges and that he had not provided any record of his military service, while his family and the nonprofit group #AfghanEvac described him as a healthy baker and a father of six who had been evacuated to the United States after the 2021 Taliban takeover.
Paktyawal was taken to a Dallas ICE field office on Friday, complained of shortness of breath and chest pain, and was transported to the hospital. After his tongue swelled, medical staff performed CPR, but he was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m. CDT. The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released a cause of death, and ICE said the death remains under investigation.
ICE spokesperson Lauren Bis asserted that “no one in ICE custody is denied access to proper medical care,” a statement his office’s spokesperson repeated after the family expressed confusion over the rapid decline of a man they said was “strong and healthy.” Representative Julie Johnson, who visited the ICE field office, accused the Department of Homeland Security and ICE of a “history of lying and misrepresenting” detainees’ backgrounds, noting that Paktyawal’s case was listed as a fraud and theft matter that had not yet been resolved in court.
The death adds to a broader pattern of mortality in ICE detention. ICE reported 14 custody deaths from Oct. 1, 2025 through Jan. 6, 2026, a rate that would surpass the previous 12‑month total of 24. The agency is also expanding its detention capacity, planning to increase bed space to 92,600 by the end of November 2026 at a cost of $38.3 billion. Advocates argue that the surge in deaths, combined with the agency’s rapid expansion, underscores systemic failures in medical oversight and transparency.
Paktyawal’s family, who say he applied for asylum and was awaiting a decision, have called for answers about why he was targeted and how a man in good health could die so quickly under federal custody. Their questions echo longstanding concerns from immigrant‑rights groups about the treatment of detainees, especially those who served U.S. interests abroad.