The visually impaired refugee from Myanmar had spent a year at a county jail in Buffalo, when, on a cold winter day, he was picked up by Border Patrol agents and left alone at a coffee shop.
Five days later, he was found dead.
The case, first reported by the Buffalo nonprofit news outlet Investigative Post, triggered outrage across New York State. Public officials and immigration advocates expressed dismay over the officers’ decision to drive the refugee, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, to the coffee shop without apparently telling his relatives or his lawyer where he was. City officials said that Mr. Shah Alam could not speak English.
The circumstances that spelled the fate of Mr. Shah Alam remain murky. His body was found at about 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, miles away from the Tim Hortons restaurant where the officers had released him from their custody. The Buffalo Police Department said that he had died of health complications but did not further specify the results of an autopsy report.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said in an emailed statement that the officers had offered Mr. Shah Alam a courtesy ride after he was released from the jail, and that he accepted. The officials said that they dropped him off at the Tim Hortons, which they 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 email from Customs and Border Protection said.
It remained unclear on Thursday why the Border Patrol agents had released Mr. Shah Alam. The statement from the agency did not address that, saying only that Mr. Shah Alam was “not amenable to removal” back to Myanmar, without further explanation.
Customs and Border Protection referred questions about his disappearance and death to the Buffalo Police Department. An autopsy had ruled that Mr. Shah Alam’s death was not a homicide.
Sean M. Ryan, the mayor of Buffalo, released a statement calling the decision “unprofessional and inhumane.”
“Buffalo is a city that welcomes refugees and believes government should protect human dignity, not endanger it,” Mr. Ryan, a Democrat, said. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection failed that basic standard.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has a home in Buffalo, accused the federal government of carrying out what she described as a rogue deportation agenda. She called for an independent investigation into the death of Mr. Shah Alam and into the arrest of a Columbia University student on Thursday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who school officials said had misrepresented themselves to gain access to a private area.
“New York will not look the other way,” Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement. “If Washington won’t restore order and take action, New York will.”
Many questions remain unanswered about Mr. Shah Alam’s death — and about his life in Buffalo. Federal officials said that he had arrived as a refugee in the United States on Christmas Eve 2024. His immigration status was unclear.
His relatives, who had reportedly been searching for him after federal agents took custody of him, declined to speak and directed inquiries about his disappearance to his lawyer, Benjamin Macaluso, who did not respond to interview requests.
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office said it was investigating the death.
Kaitlyn A. Munro, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said that Mr. Shah Alam had spent a year in jail after he was arrested in Buffalo’s Riverside neighborhood. A police report asserted that he had trespassed onto a woman’s property on the morning of Feb. 15, 2025, damaging her shed door and allowing her dog to run out of the yard through an open gate. When the police arrived, Mr. Shah Alam was holding two long black poles and swinging them at the officers, the report said. A scuffle ensued, and the officers were injured.
Mr. Macaluso told the Investigative Post that Mr. Shah Alam had gone out on a walk and purchased a curtain rod to use as a walking stick. When he tried to return home, he got lost and ended up at a stranger’s house as she was letting her dog out.
Mr. Macaluso said that the woman called the police, who ordered Mr. Shah Alam to drop his curtain rod. But Mr. Shah Alam could not understand or see the officers clearly, and after he did not comply with repeated orders, the two officers deployed a Taser on him and tackled and beat him, Mr. Macaluso told the Investigative Post.
The next day, he was arraigned in Buffalo City Court and held on bail set at $25,000. A federal immigration detainer was issued after his arrest, which meant that law enforcement officials would notify federal officials if he was released.
Mr. Shah Alam was later indicted by a grand jury on felony assault, burglary and criminal mischief charges. At his arraignment in June, his bail was reduced to $5,000. On Feb. 9, he had reached a deal with the district attorney, pleading guilty before Judge James Bargnesi of Erie County Court to a class A misdemeanor charge for criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and a class B misdemeanor charge for criminal trespass.
Ms. Munro said that the office had decided to reduce his charges after evaluating his conduct and criminal history, as well as the “significant collateral consequences that would result from a felony conviction — including mandatory deportation.”
The agreement required that Mr. Shah Alam remain in custody until his sentencing on March 24. But on Tuesday, the district attorney’s office was informed that Mr. Shah Alam had posted bond on Feb. 19, with the federal immigration detainer in place.
The Erie County Sheriff’s Office said that it had released Mr. Shah Alam from custody at the Erie County Holding Center and followed its usual practice of notifying federal officials because of the immigration detainer requested for him. Border Patrol agents arrived at the holding center before Mr. Shah Alam was freed.
Michael J. Keane, the Erie County district attorney, expressed sympathy to Mr. Shah Alam’s family and friends.
Once his office receives Mr. Shah Alam’s death certificate, Mr. Keane, a Democrat, said that his office plans to dismiss all criminal charges.
Luis Ferré-Sadurní contributed reporting.
Ana Ley is a Times reporter covering immigration in New York City.
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