A man previously identified Investigative post Shah Alam was also seen walking past the car window and then approaching the closed door before walking across the parking lot.
The Border Patrol agents who dropped off Shah Alam — who spoke no English and was blind in one eye and partially blurry vision in the other — apparently made no attempt to ensure that Tim Hortons was in fact a “safe, warm location” he could get to. The truck pulled out of the parking lot less than a minute after Shah Alam was seen exiting it.
When news broke Wednesday that Shah Alam’s body had been found on a Buffalo street days after he was dropped off after his release — and after freezing temperatures hit Western New York City over the weekend — a Border Patrol spokesman said agents “offered him a free ride, which he chose to accept at a coffee shop” that he was “determined would be a warm, safe place near his last known address.”
They also claimed that Shah Alam, who used a walking stick before his arrest last year, “did not show signs of distress, mobility problems or disability that required special assistance.”
The agents never notified Shah Alam’s wife and children or his lawyer that he had been extradited.
“So when? [the Department of Homeland Security] “He says they offered him a free ride somewhere warm and safe…meaning they left him in the closed parking lot of Tim Hortons in the middle of a winter evening in Buffalo.” He said Jeremy Konyndyk, President of Refugees International. “They lie about everything.”
Shah Alam had been detained at the Erie County Detention Center since February 2025, when he lost his way home from a store where he had purchased a curtain rod to use as a walking stick. He ended up in the backyard of a woman who called police, who later reported that Shah Alam was swinging the bar “In a threatening manner,” which his lawyer denies.
the Investigative post It also obtained police body camera footage of the arrest, which shows Shah Alam saying “okay” and dropping one end of a curtain rod when an officer asked him to put the rod on the ground. The footage also showed officers tasing Shah Alam and throwing him to the ground.
After the incident, Shah Alam was charged with assault, trespassing and possession of a weapon — his walking stick — and was held in the Erie County Detention Center until last Thursday, after he agreed to plead guilty. He agreed to plead guilty to trespassing and gun possession and managed to avoid immigration detention even though Border Patrol issued a detention order for him after the arrest, saying he was eligible for deportation.
Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan told… Investigative post on Thursday, that after finding a closed Tim Hortons last week, Border Patrol should have returned Shah Alam to the Erie County Detention Center, where they would have been contacted by sheriff’s deputies who knew his family from their frequent visits to the jail.
A family friend, Khaleda Shah, said: “The lawyer has not been informed, and the family is just saying: ‘You had our contact information, you had our address.’ “Why don’t you drop him off at the address he has on file? “Why don’t they take you back to the detention center, instead of Tim Hortons?”
when New York Times X columnist Nicholas Kristof posted about Shah Alam’s death on Thursday, and the Department of Homeland Security responded by claiming that agents had brought him to a safe location.
Christophe: “The video shows that it was night and the café was closed, so he never entered it.” He replied“Instead, he was mostly blind and in need of a cane, unable to speak English, and tried to return home during the freezing night — because your agents never contacted his family or his attorney but apparently left him for dead. Do you see how your credibility is undermined when you repeatedly make claims that are later contradicted by video evidence? Why should we trust the statements of an agency with such a record of deception?”
DHS had not responded publicly at press time.
Refugees International was among those calling for a full investigation into the border guards’ “abandonment” of Shah Alam.
Danielle B. Sullivan, Group Director for Africa, Asia and the Middle East, male The United States determined in 2022 that the Myanmar military had committed genocide against the Rohingya people, and Shah Alam was resettled in the United States in 2024 after escaping violence and persecution.
“Shah Alam’s death comes in the midst of previously ongoing violent immigration enforcement operations [Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement] “Our clients have resulted in the abuse and neglect of legally resettled refugees, as well as the deaths of immigrants and American citizens alike,” Sullivan said.
“Refugees International, once again, strongly condemns the Trump administration’s abhorrent and inhumane targeting of those seeking asylum,” he said. “We express our solidarity with Mr. Shah Alam’s family, the broader Rohingya community, and all of our neighbors who face increased uncertainty and risk of harm due to the current Trump administration’s policies.”
He also said that a member of the Rohingya community told the organization that “the safe haven of Shah Alam has become a tragedy for him.”
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