A nearly blind man’s death in Buffalo, New York, was “preventable,” according to the city’s mayor, who said he died after federal immigration authorities released him from custody and left him alone in the city.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents dropped Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old refugee from Burma, off at a Tim Hortons shop — about 5 miles away from his home — in Buffalo on February 19, following his release from an Erie County jail, city officials confirmed to the Investigative Post.
His body was found outside in the city days later on Tuesday, February 24, according to officials, the Investigative Post reported.
Shah Alam had been considered missing by the Buffalo Police Department, which had been searching for him after his release from custody, the department said in a Facebook post.
In a statement on Wednesday, February 25, Buffalo Mayor Sean M. Ryan said that Shah Alam’s death “is deeply disturbing.”
“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 U.S. Customs and Border Protection was unprofessional and inhumane,” Ryan said, adding that the agency “must answer for how and why this happened.”
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Last year, Shah Alam was detained in the Erie County Holding Center on February 16, 2025, after Buffalo police had arrested him, Erie County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Christopher Horvatits confirmed to Us Weekly via email.
Shah Alam had been charged with felony assault, burglary and criminal mischief in connection with his arrest on February 15, 2025, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said, according to The Buffalo News.
District Attorney Michael J. Keane told the newspaper that he “exercised his prosecutorial discretion to offer” Shah Alam “a reduced plea in the interest of justice,” resulting in Shah Alam pleading guilty on February 9 to two misdemeanor offenses.
Shah Alam posted bond on February 19 and was released from the Erie County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office’s public information officer.
“U.S. Border Patrol arrived at the Holding Center prior to the finalization of Mr. Shah Alam’s release from Erie County Sheriff’s Office custody,” Horvatits said.
In a statement shared with Us on Thursday, February 26, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said that on February 19, “the Erie County Sheriff’s Office alerted Border Patrol about a non-citizen in their custody.”
After Border Patrol agents confirmed that Shah Alam came to the U.S. as a refugee in December 2024 — and that he was not eligible to be removed from the U.S. — the spokesperson said the agents “offered Mr. Alam 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,” the U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson added.
The Erie County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy and found that Shah Alam died of “health-related” effects, the department told The Buffalo News.
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Shah Alam was arrested on February 15, 2025, while he was walking in his neighborhood and using a curtain rod as a walking stick, his attorney Benjamin Macaluso, of the Legal Aid Bureau, told the Investigative Post.
As a result of his vision impairment and not being able to speak English, he walked onto a woman’s front porch and she called police, according to Macaluso, the nonprofit news outlet reported.
After Shah Alam allegedly would not follow officers’ orders to let go of his curtain rod, Macaluso said he was forcibly arrested, according to the news outlet.
Shah Alam’s son, Mohamad Faisal, told Reuters that after Shah Alam was released from law enforcement custody, “Nobody told me or my family or attorney where my dad was dropped off.”
While speaking with Reuters, Faisal said his father wanted to “be united with the rest of (his) family.”
