DHS Debunks Fake Narrative of a 'Refugee' Death Because of ICE; Jeffries and Democrats Still Run With It

RedState 

The House of Representatives already passed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, and it is now languishing in the Senate. Democrat senators refuse to vote for its passage because they want so-called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reforms before they agree. This DHS funding bill doesn't affect ICE or Border Patrol at all. Both these arms of DHS are already funded until 2029 through the One Big Beautiful Law, and Democrats in both houses of Congress know this. Yet, Democrats still chose to partially shut down the government, which directly affects the TSA, Coast Guard, and FEMA. Employees of this agency are currently going without pay, sleeping in their cars so that they can make it to work without filling up on gas, and donating plasma to make ends meet.

Yet, DHS is the agency that is cruel. 

So, one wonders why Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) feels the need to beat this drum of DHS being radical, dangerous, and needing reform when he no longer has any power to do anything about it?

Reasons, I guess.

On Friday, Jeffries posted to X about a recent story out of Buffalo, New York. Nurul Amin Shah Alam was a Rohingya refugee who was found dead, and this death is being blamed on DHS. You see, after Shah Alam remained detained at the Erie County Sheriff's Department jail for criminal trespass, assault of a law enforcement officer, criminal possession of a weapon, and other related charges, the Erie County Sheriff's Department released Shah Alam into the custody of U.S. Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) because they believed Shah Alam was an illegal alien. Once it was determined that Shah Alam was in the country legally, CBP agents dropped him off at a location that he allegedly designated and went on their way. Five days after he was dropped off by CBP, Shah Alam was found dead in another part of the city. 

Jeffries claims "DHS agents" (they were Border Patrol) "callously abandoned" Shah Alam.    

Investigative Post is a local publication digging deeper into the circumstances of Shah Alam's death. According to their reporting, the CBP agents who picked up Shah Alam assessed that he was not subject to removal and offered to give him a courtesy ride to a location of Shah Alam's choosing. The agents dropped him off at a Tim Horton's donut shop around 8 p.m. The location was closed, but its drive-thru was still in service. According to Investigative Post, this shop was five miles away from where Shah Alam's dead body was later found.

The fact that Shah Alam never made it home is troubling, to say the least, but is Border Patrol really at fault here?

As per usual, the legacy media is framing the death as exactly that, and the local elected Democrats are capitalizing on this framing while demanding investigations. 

A journalist from the Investigative Post was interviewed on the local news about the tragic tale now being covered worldwide.

WATCH:

In the meantime, DHS replied to Jeffries' post, offering more detail on how Shah Alam ended up in custody in the first place. DHS is calling the narrative and media coverage "another hoax."

Another hoax being peddled by the media and sanctuary politicians to demonize our law enforcement. This death had NOTHING to do Border Patrol.

Mr. Shah Alam passed almost A WEEK AFTER he was released by Border Patrol — he also had a serial violent criminal rap sheet.

Mr. Shah Alam’s criminal history included charges for assaulting a first responder with intent to cause injury, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing with a weapon, resisting arrest, criminal trespass, and obstructing governmental administration.

It is clear from the Investigative Post reporting that the circumstances surrounding Shah Alam's criminality and death are more muddied than anyone is revealing. Buffalo ABC7 News laid out a timeline of the circumstances that led to here, and it is also telling.

WATCH:

In peering underneath the hood of this latest narrative to blame DHS at all costs, there are several things that come into question. We'll start with what Investigative Post has written:

On the morning of Saturday, February 15, 2025, Shah Alam left his West Side home for a walk, according to his attorney and a Buffalo police report, Shah Alam, his wife and two sons had arrived in Buffalo as refugees just weeks prior in December 2024 and were in the country legally. Cooped up due to the cold, his attorney said, Shah Alam set out for a stroll when a sunny day arrived.

In need of a walking stick — and with $20 in hand — Shah Alam went to a store near his home and purchased a curtain rod, his attorney, Benjamin Macaluso of the Legal Aid Bureau, told Investigative Post.

When the weather turned bad, Shah Alam headed for home but got lost, Macaluso said. Shortly before 10:30 a.m. he wandered into the backyard of Tracy Chicone on the 500 block of Tonawanda Street in the Riverside neighborhood.

First, why is a mostly blind and disabled 56-year-old refugee allowed to wander around an unfamiliar city in the first place? Refugees are supposed to have sponsors. Who were this man's and his family's sponsors, and why did they not supply him with proper walking canes and resources for him to get around and not end up lost? Did the organization that brought him here not have the wherewithal to supply these specialized resources? 

There is information that is being omitted because this story already does not track.

Second, why would you go into someone's gated yard? Investigative Post continued:

Chicone reported to Buffalo police that Shah Alam had opened her back gate, let her dog out and damaged her shed door with his curtain rod walking stick. Upon arrival, police alleged Shah Alam was “swinging them in a menacing manner.” Officer Christopher Mordino later wrote he believed Shah Alam intended to hurt police with his curtain rod.

Macaluso said that wasn’t true, and that his client was merely startled by the dog and the commotion. 

The homeowner's reaction and actions were justified, especially after her dog was released because of Shah Alam's actions. Did the homeowner try to confront Shah Alam and receive combative behavior in kind? There are gaps here that reflect that something more is being omitted.

Third, why resist arrest? Investigative Post obtained the complete police bodycam footage surrounding the incident, which I found highly illuminating.

My assessment after viewing this video more than a few times is that Shah Alam was teeing up to fight the Buffalo PD. Several officers tased him, yet he still would not comply. That does not reflect confusion and speaks to intent. He wasn't interested in being cooperative and was planning to enact violence had he not been taken down.

Fast forward to the months of time it took Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane (D) to even bring Shah Alam to trial on the charges against him from this incident. So, Shah Alam languished from February all the way to May before the DA bothered to address the matter. But here's the kicker: His family feared Shah Alam would be deported, so they wanted him to be left in jail. 

It was four months before District Attorney Michael Keane’s office issued an indictment via Grand Jury on the charges, according to a statement from Keane’s office. Following a hearing in late May 2025, Shah Alam’s bail was set at $5,000. Fearing that ICE would take custody and transfer him out of state, Shah Alam’s family opted to keep him in the jail where they could visit him, Macaluso told Investigative Post. 

A family friend, Khaleda Shah, confirmed Thursday that the family feared Shah Alam being detained by ICE had he been bailed out last year. 

More hearings rounded out 2025. Shah Alam spent an entire year in jail.

Months of hearings followed. Macaluso said the case was nearing trial. On February 9, Keane’s office agreed to offer Shah Alam a plea deal.

“My decision was the result of a comprehensive evaluation of his conduct, criminal history, acceptance of responsibility, medical condition, time served in pre-trial custody, and the proposed resolution,” Keane said in a statement. “I also considered the significant collateral consequences that would result from a felony conviction — including mandatory deportation.”

In the following months, while Shah Alam sat in jail, and his family purportedly visited him, they moved to a new house. Investigative Post details more confusion, particularly after Shah Alam agreed to a plea. 

Shah Alam pleaded guilty to two charges: trespassing and misdemeanor possession of a weapon – his curtain rod. His immigration attorney, Siana McLean, said those offenses did not warrant detention or deportation by ICE. She said she communicated with the agency about those charges last week and that its lawyers agreed that Shah Alam would not be subject to federal detention upon his release.

His plea to the charges, she said, “didn’t make him removable from the United States.”

Here is where the finger-pointing starts: The Erie County Sheriff's Department claimed CBP were the ones who requested Shah Alam be released into their custody. Shah Alam's immigration attorney claimed CBP was at fault for not returning him to the detention center. The beat goes on.

Christopher Horvatits, a spokesperson for the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, said it was Border Patrol that requested custody of Shah Alam upon his release from jail. Horvatits said deputies called Border Patrol agents who picked Shah Alam up upon his release from the Holding Center.

That happened just after 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Shah, the family friend, said Shah Alam’s family waited for hours that day, hoping to pick him up from the holding center.

McLean said the Sheriff’s Office should not have called Border Patrol.

[...]

Michael Niezgoda, a Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson, said it was only after agents took custody of Shah Alam that they determined he “was not amenable to removal.” Agents then, Niezgoda said, “offered him a courtesy ride, which he chose to accept, to a coffee shop … rather than be released directly from the Border Patrol station.” That Tim Hortons, on the 2200 block of Niagara Street, was “determined to be a warm, safe location near his last known address,” Niezgoda said.

What occurred after Shah Alam was dropped off is the mystery that needs to be solved. What we will not soon discover is the paperwork and circumstances behind why CBP picked him up in the first place. However, the legacy media and Democrats will never let a crisis go to waste, even when the crisis has holes that you could drive a Mack truck through.