Buffalo’s Rohingya Community Demands Accountability After Disabled Refugee Dies |
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It has been more than a month since the body of a disabled Rohingya refugee was found on a Buffalo, New York, street five days after his release from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody. Friends and family members, along with local immigrant communities and elected officials across the state, are demanding answers.
The death of 56-year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam has shaken Buffalo’s immigrant communities and drawn national scrutiny, raising urgent questions about how federal immigration agencies handle vulnerable people, particularly those who are disabled and cannot navigate unfamiliar environments or advocate for themselves.
At the center of the controversy is a question: How did a refugee who was nearly blind and who fled persecution halfway across the world end up alone and dead on a frigidly cold city street after his release by federal authorities?
A “Courtesy Ride” That Ended in Tragedy
On Feb. 24, Shah Alam was found unresponsive in downtown Buffalo on Perry Street, reportedly wearing orange jail-issued booties despite temperatures hovering around 30 degrees. Just five days earlier, he was released from the Erie County Holding Center months after an arrest and handed over to Border Patrol agents.
Michael Niezgoda, a CBP spokesperson, told media that it was only after agents took custody of Shah Alam that they determined he “was not amenable to removal.” Agents then “offered him a courtesy ride,” according to Niezgoda.
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The details of the ride were shared in a post by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) X account. Agents with the agency dropped Shah Alam off sometime after 8 p.m. near a closed Tim Hortons coffee shop at Niagara and Ontario streets in Buffalo’s Black Rock neighborhood.
According to the post, Shah Alam showed “no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance.”
But attorneys, advocates, and community members strongly dispute DHS’s characterization.
“Mr. Alam was extremely vulnerable,” according to a statement from the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, the organization that represented him during legal proceedings. “He spoke almost no English and could not communicate without the aid of an interpreter. He suffered from severely impaired vision and had other health issues.”
The group also noted that although the drop-off location was described as near his “last known address,” his family no longer lived in that neighborhood.
Azimah Jalil, a Rohingya community member assisting the family, told Prism that CBP’s so-called courtesy ride was unnecessary.
“They had all his information. They could have called his attorney. They could have called his family. Why take him to a random place?” Jalil said. “The Tim Hortons they dropped him off was already closed. And they said it was a ‘safe place.’”
Surveillance footage later published by media outlets showed that Shah Alam was dropped off in the parking lot more than an hour after the Tim Hortons had closed.
Police records obtained by Prism show that on Feb. 24 at 8:29 p.m., a passerby called 911 to report an unresponsive man on Perry Street. A witness said the man was seen moving around 5:30 p.m., but was later found motionless at approximately 8:30 p.m.
The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Shah Alam’s identity the next day. The official cause of death has yet to be released.
Mohamad Faisal, one of Shah Alam’s children, told Reuters that no officials told him, the family, or Shah Alam’s attorney where he was dropped off.
In response to questions, a DHS spokesperson referred Prism to two X posts from the DHS account published on Feb. 26 and 27.
The Feb. 26 post stated that agents dropped Shah Alam off at a coffee shop after determining he entered the U.S. as a refugee on Dec. 24, 2024 and could not be deported.
Shah Alam was Rohingya refugee, part of a Muslim minority group from Myanmar that has faced decades of persecution. The Myanmar government does not recognize Rohingya as a separate ethnic group and refers to them as “Bengalis” from neighboring Bangladesh, effectively erasing their identities.
In 2017, a Myanmar military crackdown in response to attacks from Rohingya militants forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee to Bangladesh, where many Rohingya refugees have spent years in squalid camps with limited access to education, English-language training, or cultural orientation. Myanmar has been under military rule since a 2021 coup, making the situation only worse for Rohingya. In 2022, the U.S. State Department officially determined that members of Myanmar military committed “crimes against humanity” and “genocide” against Rohingya.
Shah Alam not only survived these conditions, but successfully fled to the U.S. as a refugee, only to die alone on an American street.
In the Feb. 27 post, DHS denied responsibility for his death.
“Another hoax being peddled by the media and sanctuary politicians to demonize our law enforcement,” the post said. “This death had NOTHING to do [with] Border Patrol. Mr. Shah Alam passed almost A WEEK AFTER he was released by Border Patrol — he also had a serial violent criminal rap sheet.”
When immigrants die in federal immigration custody, DHS has a pattern of highlighting any previous interactions the person may have had with the criminal legal system. In the case of Shah Alam, the agency cited multiple charges when describing his criminal history.
Family and friends reject CBP’s characterization of Shah Alam.
A Deadly Misunderstanding
According to community members, Shah Alam arrived in the U.S. on Dec. 24, 2024, after spending more than a decade as a refugee in Malaysia. He was arrested in New York about a month later.
Body camera footage from the Feb. 15, 2025 arrest, obtained by a local publication shows Buffalo police responding to a trespassing complaint on Buffalo’s Tonawanda Street. Officers are seen confronting Shah Alam, who is holding two slender black poles. Police repeatedly order him to drop the poles. When he does not comply, officers deploy Tasers and tackle him to the ground. During the struggle, police said Shah Alam bit an officer, leading to a second-degree felony charge.
Family members and advocates say the incident was a misunderstanding.
Faisal, Shah Alam’s son, told Reuters that police were called when Shah Alam accidentally wandered onto private property while carrying portions of a curtain rod he had been using as a walking stick.
Jalil said she believes that Shah Alam acted out of fear when he was confronted by the police.
“He didn’t understand the system,” Jalil said. “Back home in Myanmar, if you see police, you run. Police can beat you, torture you, kill you, or lock you up for years on false charges. … So when police here were screaming at him, pointing guns, and threatening to tase him, he panicked. Maybe he was so frightened that the police might do the same thing as back home.”
Rohingya activist and Refugees International fellow, Lucky Karim, echoed Jalil.
“Rohingya are still recovering from the trauma of the genocide and refugee life. A lot of them suffer from mental illness as well,” Karim said.
After his arrest, Shah Alam remained in custody for more than a year as his case moved through the courts.
On Nov. 6, 2025, Rohingya Empowerment Community, a Buffalo-based organization that provides language and culturally sensitive support to the local community, submitted letters to the court in support of Shah Alam, asking officials to take into account his background as a stateless refugee with limited education and no English proficiency.
One letter said, “Many of us, including Mr. Amin, arrived in the United States after years of displacement, trauma, and life in refugee camps where we had no access to schooling or formal orientation about life in Western countries.”
Broadly, the letters argued that the incident likely resulted from miscommunication and cultural misunderstanding, rather than ill intent.
According to a public statement from his attorney, Shah Alam accepted a plea deal in February 2026, with sentencing scheduled for March.
“He lived outside of jail for only about one month total,” Jalil said. “The rest of his time in the U.S. was spent in custody.”
Isolation and Marginalization
Shah Alam’s death made national headlines and drew criticism from activists, members of Congress, and public officials.
Following his death, Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan said in a statement that “the preventable death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam is deeply disturbing and a dereliction of duty by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
The mayor also criticized the decision to leave a vulnerable man alone on a cold winter night as “unprofessional and inhumane.”
During a Feb. 27 press conference, Ryan noted that Border Patrol agents did not return Shah Alam to the holding center after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) declined to detain him — a step he said could have helped locate his family.
“If they had taken him back, the desk sergeant could have reviewed his visitor log and identified his son or his lawyer,” Ryan said in the press conference. “There were ways to contact the family so you didn’t leave somebody out in the cold.”
Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, including New York Reps. Grace Meng and Tim Kennedy, issued a joint statement calling for a full and thorough investigation.
“U.S. Border Patrol agents left a man who was nearly blind, unable to speak English, and living with serious medical conditions miles from his home without notifying his family,” the statement said. “As Members of Congress, we will be demanding answers and accountability from the administration, including the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James also condemned the incident, saying in a statement that no one seeking refuge should be left in harm’s way. Her office is reviewing possible legal options.
During a March 4 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, New York Rep. Jerry Nadler questioned then-DHS Kristi Noem about Shah Alam’s case.
“What about the officers in Buffalo who abandoned a barefoot blind refugee in the middle of a freezing night miles away from his home?” Nadler asked. “Will any of them face accountability?”
Noem said the incident is under review by DHS’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
When contacted by Prism, DHS did not provide additional details or confirm the status of the investigation.
Advocates say Shah Alam’s death highlights broader systemic issues in the immigration system. Language barriers, lack of interpreter access, and poor coordination between agencies create dangerous circumstances — especially for refugees with disabilities and trauma.
According to the Feb. 26 X post from DHS, Shah Alam “chose to accept” getting dropped off at what agents described as “a warm, safe location near his last known address, rather than be released directly from the Border Patrol station.”
Jalil told Prism that it is unlikely Shah Alam chose the drop-off location himself.
“He only lived outside of jail for one month. He didn’t know the city. He didn’t know Tim Hortons. He couldn’t read or use Google Maps,” she said. “I think Border Patrol is making this up.”
Jalil also disputed DHS’s assessment that Alam showed “no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance.”
“How does someone go from ‘healthy’ to dead on the street?” she said. “They are not doctors. How did they decide he was healthy enough to be left at a closed coffee shop? He didn’t have a cellphone or any money to take a ride. He didn’t have any proper clothes for the winter.”
Steven Sanyu, a Myanmar community leader in Buffalo who works with both local and federal agencies, told Prism in a text message that language barriers can have serious consequences in the lives of newly arrived refugees.
“There are communication gaps between law enforcement and non-English-speaking refugees, and even between agencies themselves,” he said. “When those gaps involve someone vulnerable, the consequences can be tragic.”
He added that officers could have contacted shelters or elderly care centers if they could not locate Shah Alam’s home.
“There are resources in Buffalo,” Sanyu said. “They should have used them.”
Jalil also noted that an interpreter was not present during Shah Alam’s release, though DHS claimed that agents used a translation app to communicate with him.
As of March 30, officials have not released the official cause of Shah Alam’s death. However, authorities have said they ruled out death by exposure or homicide, though the medical examiner’s report remains confidential. [Editor’s note: The Erie County Medical Examiner ruled Nurul Amin Shah Alam’s death a homicide after the original piece was initially published.]
Prism contacted the Buffalo mayor’s office for updated information on the report. Officials did not respond by publication time.
Advocates note that even if underlying health conditions did not play a role, the circumstances of Shah Alam’s release — including being left outside in winter conditions — may have contributed to his death.
Sanyu, who attended Shah Alam’s funeral, told Prism that Rohingya refugees often face estrangement in the U.S. This can lead to even greater health care disparities for immigrants and refugees from this community.
“The Rohingya community is more isolated because of language and history,” Sanyu explained.
While many Rohingya have origins in Myanmar, their culture and appearance differ from other ethnic groups from Myanmar, leading to even further isolation and marginalization.
Karim said language barriers further contribute to these challenging conditions.
“It is not spoken by many people. And the fact is that people were not even allowed to go to school to learn or speak our national language, which is Burmese — let alone English,” Karim told Prism. “So the majority of Rohingya ended up speaking only Rohingya and face serious communication barriers with anyone who is not Rohingya. That makes them isolated and cut off from other communities and minority groups. It prevents engagement.”
On Feb. 26, dozens from the Rohingya community gathered at a mosque near Sycamore Street to mourn Shah Alam. He was later buried at a cemetery on Buffalo’s East Side.
Jalil described him as a father who spent 10 years in Malaysia working in factories, construction, and trash collection — anything to support his family.
“His dream was to come to the U.S. and give his wife and children a better life,” she said. “But it led to a tragic death.”
At a Feb. 28 press conference, Shah Alam’s wife, Fatimah Abdul Roshid, said their family was separated for years while Shah Alam worked abroad to support them. They were eventually reunited in the U.S., but only briefly. Three of their children remain in Malaysia and were only able to watch their father’s funeral online.
At a candlelight vigil the same day, residents held signs that read: “CBP, how could you?” and, “We demand justice for Nurul Amin Shah Alam.”
Buffalo officials sought to reassure the community.
“Buffalo is a welcoming city,” Ryan said. “This is a step backward from the values we’ve worked to build.” The mayor also noted that if no criminal investigation proceeds, the family may pursue civil action.
Karim told Prism that many refugees such as Shah Alam arrive with hope but face incredible hardship in the U.S.
“There is a difference between the excitement of arriving and the shock of daily life here,” she said.
Prism is an independent and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of color. We report from the ground up and at the intersections of injustice.
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Victor Maung is a Burmese journalist and Fulbright scholarship alumnus who has reported on Myanmar and Asian affairs since 2005. He formerly reported for Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and The Myanmar Times, covering politics, economy, and regional developments. His work focuses on democracy, human rights, immigration and diaspora communities in the U.S.