A man, identified as Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a refugee from Myanmar, who had impaired vision and had been missing since his release from a Buffalo, N.Y., jail and transferred to U.S. Border Patrol custody, was discovered dead on a street in downtown Buffalo, as per city officials. Buffalo Police Department officers found the body of 56-year-old Shah Alam on Tuesday evening.
Shah Alam had gone missing on February 19 after being left at a coffee shop several kilometers away from his residence by U.S. Border Patrol agents following his release from a county jail. He had spent a significant portion of the past year in the jail awaiting trial on criminal charges that ended in a misdemeanor plea agreement.
Investigations into the circumstances surrounding Shah Alam’s death are being conducted by homicide detectives, according to a spokesperson. Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan, a Democrat, criticized the decision-making of federal immigration authorities, calling Shah Alam’s death preventable and attributing it to “inhumane” actions.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson, in response to allegations, stated that Shah Alam was dropped off at a coffee shop as he was determined to be a refugee who couldn’t be deported. The agency mentioned that Shah Alam did not exhibit signs of distress, mobility issues, or special assistance needs. Shah Alam was given the choice to be taken to a coffee shop near his last known address for warmth and safety.
Shah Alam was arrested a year prior following an incident that left two Buffalo police officers with minor injuries, as reported by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. He was granted bail this month after accepting a plea deal. Following his arrest, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had issued an immigration detainer requesting custody of him upon release from criminal detention.
The Erie County Sheriff’s Office communicated with U.S. Border Patrol before Shah Alam’s release in response to the immigration detainer. Shah Alam’s son, Mohamad Faisal, explained that his father’s arrest resulted from a misunderstanding with police officers during a walk where Shah Alam, who did not speak English, used a curtain rod as a walking aid.
Faisal expressed that upon Shah Alam’s release, neither him nor his family were informed of his drop-off location. An immigration lawyer in Buffalo clarified that families are not mandated to be notified when adults are released from custody by federal authorities.
Shah Alam’s family identified themselves as Arakan Rohingya refugees. The CBP disclosed that Shah Alam entered the U.S. as a refugee in December 2024. Myanmar has refuted claims of genocide linked to a 2017 military operation that displaced over 730,000 Rohingya individuals. Many of them have been residing in a camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, facing exacerbated conditions due to cuts in humanitarian aid by the Trump administration.