Afghan ally dies after ICE detention in Richardson, family questions care

Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal died at Parkland Hospital in Dallas after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him outside his Richardson apartment.

Paktiawal, 41, was taken into ICE custody on March 13, 2026, while preparing to take his children to school. He had lived in Richardson with his wife and six children after being evacuated to the United States in August 2021, following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

The family says Paktiawal depended on an inhaler for breathing problems and that his wife tried to give it to him during the arrest but was not allowed to do so. ICE screened him at the Dallas field office, where he denied medical conditions or allergies, then later complained of shortness of breath and chest pain in a holding room before being sent to Parkland. Hospital staff later noted swelling of his tongue while he was eating breakfast and gave him epinephrine, a drug used for severe allergic reactions.

The death certificate lists his death as accidental and names anaphylaxis complicating asthma as the cause, triggered by an adverse drug reaction to an unidentified substance. The certificate also names methamphetamine use, heart disease and cigarette smoking as contributing factors, and gives an injury date two days before his death, which would place it before his detention. His family disputes the methamphetamine finding and says he did not use illegal drugs and had quit smoking years ago.

An independent forensic pathologist hired by the family found “nothing remarkable” about his underlying health, but the exam took place after embalming, leaving no blood for toxicology testing. Dallas County officials have declined to release the full autopsy report, citing an ongoing federal criminal investigation and saying ICE has not authorized its release.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the case “smacks of a cover-up,” while U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson asked what medical care was provided, how quickly officers responded, why an ambulance was not immediately dispatched and where the records and video are.

ICE said Paktiawal had been arrested before on allegations of food stamp fraud and theft, though he had not been convicted. The Department of Homeland Security said his humanitarian parole expired in 2025 and that he had not provided records of his military service. He came through the official evacuation process and later applied for asylum after more than a decade of work alongside U.S. Army Special Forces, including the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), in Paktika province.

His death is one of more than 50 in ICE detention during President Donald Trump's second term, and the first of those deaths to be ruled accidental.