HOUSTON — An Afghan immigrant whose family said he had been evacuated from his home country after working for years with U.S. forces died at a Texas hospital after immigration authorities detained him, according to authorities.
Federal immigration officials called Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal a “criminal” who had been arrested for alleged fraudulent use of food stamps and for theft. Officials also said Paktyawal had not provided any record of his military service.
#AfghanEvac, a San Diego-based group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war, pushed back against the federal government’s claims about Paktyawal, one of several people who have died in recent months after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
“Calling a man a criminal without a conviction while claiming there is ‘no record’ of service without checking interagency systems looks less like fact-finding and more like damage control,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac. “The government should be explaining how a 41-year-old father of six died less than 24 hours after entering ICE custody.”
A cause of death is still pending from the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office. But Paktyawal’s family said he was not ill.
“We still cannot understand how this happened. He was only 41 years old and was a strong and healthy man. His children keep asking when their father will come home,” the family said in a statement.
Paktyawal was arrested by ICE on Friday and during his medical intake exam at a Dallas ICE field office, he complained of shortness of breath and chest pain, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement Monday.
Paktyawal was taken to Parkland Hospital in Dallas and on Saturday, his tongue became swollen and he received treatment. But later in the morning, medical staff had to perform CPR on him. He was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m. CDT.
“No one in ICE custody is denied access to proper medical care,” Bis said.
His death was still under investigation, ICE said.
U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, who on Monday had visited the Dallas ICE field office where Paktyawal was held, said the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have had a history “lying and misrepresenting” the background of people they arrest or encounter.
“He was not a violent criminal, as President Trump likes to say when he’s rounding up these folks. He was working as a baker,” said Johnson, a Democrat who represents parts of Dallas County. “He was providing for his family and contributing to our economy. And so we have a lot of questions of why was this gentleman targeted? Why was he picked up? And why did he die in their custody?”
ICE said Paktyawal had been arrested for committing fraud against SNAP, the government’s biggest food aid program, on Sept. 16. ICE said he had also been arrested for theft by Garland police on Nov. 1.
A Dallas County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said there is an active case regarding SNAP benefits fraud of $200 or more, a third-degree felony, against Paktyawal that had not been resolved.
Police in the Dallas suburb of Garland said Paktyawal was arrested on Nov. 1 after being accused of not paying for groceries and merchandise from a Walmart.
The case in Garland, a misdemeanor, had not yet been filed with the district attorney’s office, according to the spokesperson.
Paktyawal had previously served alongside U.S. military special forces in Afghanistan for a decade and came to the United States following the withdrawal by U.S. troops and the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021.
“The U.S. brought him here because of the role Afghans like him played in supporting the American mission,” VanDiver said.
Paktyawal, who was married, had been living in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas.
Johnson said she had been told by his family that he had applied for asylum and his case was pending. But Johnson said ICE agents are claiming that Paktyawal had missed his asylum appointments.
Deaths in ICE custody have soared during Trump’s second term.
The agency reported 14 custody deaths from the start of the government’s fiscal year Oct. 1 through Jan. 6, well on pace to surpass the previous 12-month count of 24. ICE reported 12 custody deaths in the 2024 fiscal year and 12 in the previous three years combined.
ICE has increased the number of people in its detention centers to more than 70,000 from about 40,000 at the start of Trump’s second term. It plans to spend $38.3 billion to boost capacity to 92,600 beds by the end of November, including converted warehouses that house up to 10,000 each.
Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Rebecca Santana in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.