A refugee from Myanmar who was nearly blind and had been missing since his release from a Buffalo, New York jail has been discovered dead on a downtown street, according to city officials. The body of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, aged 56, was located by police officers in the western New York city on Tuesday evening, as confirmed by a spokesperson from the Buffalo Police Department.
Shah Alam had disappeared on February 19 after being dropped off by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a coffee shop several kilometers away from his residence following his release from a county jail, where he had been awaiting trial for criminal charges that led to a misdemeanor plea deal.
The circumstances surrounding Shah Alam’s death are currently under investigation by homicide detectives, as stated by the spokesperson. Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan criticized the handling of Shah Alam’s case by federal immigration authorities, calling it preventable and the result of “inhumane” decision-making.
According to a CBP spokesperson quoted by Buffalo’s NBC affiliate WGRZ, Shah Alam was left at a coffee shop because he could not be deported as he had entered the country as a refugee. The agency mentioned that Shah Alam did not exhibit any distress or require special assistance. They offered him a courtesy ride to a nearby coffee shop, deemed a warm and safe location close to his last known address.
Shah Alam had been arrested a year ago after an incident that resulted in minor injuries to two Buffalo police officers. He was released on bail this month following a plea deal, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an immigration detainer after his arrest, requesting custody of him upon release from criminal detention.
Shah Alam’s family was unaware of his release, as immigration officials are not obligated to inform families when adults are released from custody. The Erie County Sheriff’s Office had contacted U.S. Border Patrol before Shah Alam’s release, according to a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office. Shah Alam’s son explained that his father’s arrest was due to a misunderstanding with police officers when Shah Alam, who did not speak English, was using a curtain rod as a walking stick and got lost.
Shah Alam’s family are Arakan Rohingya refugees, and he entered the U.S. as a refugee on December 24, 2024, according to CBP statements to Buffalo media. Myanmar has faced allegations of genocide following a military offensive in 2017 that displaced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya. Many Rohingya refugees have been living in harsh conditions at a camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where conditions worsened due to aid cuts by the Trump administration.