7 March 26 - april 1, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents who died less than 24 hours after being de- tained by ICE agents operating out of the Dallas field office. According to a statement from Immigra- tion and Customs Enforcement, Moham- mad Nazeer Paktyawal was pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital shortly after 9 a.m. on March 14. He had been detained the previous day and was admitted to the hospi- tal that evening after complaining of short- ness of breath and chest pain. The cause of death is still under investigation, agency of- ficials said. Including Paktyawal, at least seven de- tainees have died in ICE custody in Texas in 2026, according to previous reporting by The Texas Tribune. Agency representatives said Paktyawal did not report any previous medical his- tory when he was arrested and processed. Medical staff noticed his tongue had be- come swollen that morning while eating breakfast, and led multiple lifesaving ef- forts before he was pronounced dead, they said. According to a statement from #Afgha- nEvac, the nonprofit that first reported the death, Paktyawal lived in Richardson with his wife and six children. He was de- tained while dropping off his children at school on March 13 and had an asylum case pending. The 41-year-old was a former special forces soldier who had worked with U.S. forces in Afghanistan beginning in 2005. He and his family were evacuated to Texas in 2021 following the U.S. Military withdrawal from the country, according to the statement. Looking for Answers I n a video posted to X, AfghanEvac Presi- dent Shawn VanDiver said his family was “heartbroken” and that he had talked to Paktyawal’s brother, who was unable to view the body, according to prior reporting by The Dallas Morning News. “It is highly unusual for an otherwise healthy 41-year-old man to die less than a day after being taken into government cus- tody, and the circumstances surrounding his detention and medical care raise urgent questions,” VanDiver said. On Monday, the organization issued an- other statement criticizing federal officials for characterizing Paktyawal as a “criminal illegal alien” instead of “explaining how a 41-year-old father of six died less than 24 hours after entering ICE custody.” “In the United States, an arrest does not make someone a criminal, and government officials should be precise when describing a man who died in their custody,” the state- ment reads. In the statement announcing Paktyawal’s death, ICE officials pointed to a “known criminal history” and cited two 2025 arrests. He had been arrested for SNAP fraud in September and was detained again on theft charges in October. The statement did not clarify if he had been convicted of either charge. #AfghanEvac, the Afghan-American As- sociation and the Council on American-Is- lamic Relations, which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated as a foreign terrorist or- ganization in 2025, have all called for full in- vestigations into Paktyawal’s death. U.S. Rep Julie Johnson, whose district in- cludes Richardson, said that she was “horri- fied” by the death in an X post Monday. “Mr. Paktyawal supported U.S. forces and deserved dignity and safety, not to die in de- tention. I am demanding answers from ICE on what happened,” Johnson wrote in the post. “There must be a full, transparent in- vestigation and accountability.” Thousands of Afghan asylum seekers like Paktyawal have been relocated to Texas since the U.S. Military’s withdrawal from the country in 2021. The Trump Administration suspended issuing visas to Afghan nationals and halted asylum decisions in 2025 after the shooting of two National Guard mem- bers in Washington, D.C. Groups have warned of inhumane con- ditions at ICE facilities amid Donald Trump’s nationwide crackdown on immi- gration. In January, CBS News reported the agency had over 70,000 people in de- tention, a 84% increase from the same time in 2025. At least 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the deadliest year for the agency in over two decades. A quarter of those deaths occurred in Texas, the Texas Tribune re- ports, and the agency is on track to surpass that total in 2026 with at least a dozen deaths in custody reported so far. Stewart F. House/Getty Images The Dallas ICE field office.
