An Afghan asylum seeker who had aided U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan for more than a decade was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Dallas area on Friday and died in custody the next day.
ICE agents had seized 41-year-old Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal outside his home in Richardson on Friday morning while he was preparing to take four of his six children to school, according to his younger brother, Naseer Paktiawal.
"Two unmarked black SUV cars, they surrounded him," Naseer Paktiawal said. “And around eight or nine people with no badges or any sign on the vehicles or any stickers that says that police or law enforcement, nothing, just masked men, surrounded him and told him that you are going with us, and his kids were screaming for help."
Mohammed Nazeer Paktiawal had worked alongside U.S. Army Special Forces, including the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Paktia Province, Afghanistan starting in 2005, according to AfghanEvac, an organization devoted to helping Afghan allies to resettle in the U.S. After the pro-U.S. Afghan government fell to the Taliban, he and his family were evacuated to the United States on Aug. 30, 2021.
"He did apply for the asylum," Naseer Paktiawal said. "He was told that, ‘We’re working on your interview and everything,' and his case was still under review and pending, and he was provided a letter from the USCIS [U.S. Customs and Immigration Services] that says the approval notice is valid until January 29, 2029."
ICE released a statement saying Nazeer Paktiawal had been arrested by local authorities in 2025, first for alleged SNAP fraud, then for alleged theft. In neither case was he convicted. The statement says his cause of death is under investigation.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for explanation of why ICE arrested him. The department, however, subsequently posted about the arrest on social media, claiming there was no record of his military service.
Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, a criminal illegal alien, entered the U.S. under the Biden administration's Operation Allies Refuge in August 2021 and provided NO RECORD of military service. His criminal history includes arrests for fraudulent use of food stamps and theft. His parole... https://t.co/72jRnHD01m
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 16, 2026
Shawn VanDiver, the president and founder of AfghanEvac, said it's unclear how many individuals like Nazeer Paktiawal have been arrested by ICE, because the agency has not been sharing any relevant information.
"I just think that it tells us everything we need to know that ICE focused on two arrests that did not result in charges or convictions, rather than the fact that a father of six, an otherwise healthy, 41-year old man died while in their custody, and rather than offering condolences to their family, they called him a criminal and denigrated his service to our country," VanDiver said.
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Naseer Paktiawal — himself a former U.S. Army interpreter, who came to the U.S. more than a decade ago on a Special Immigrant Visa — said he received a call from his brother after he was taken to an ICE detention facility in Dallas. He said Nazeer confirmed he had shown the ICE agents his paperwork showing that he had legal work authorization to be in the country, but Nazeer said the agents would not listen to him.
"I talked to the agent, and I told him that I need to know why did you guys arrest my brother," Naseer said. "And they said, ‘Well, we cannot give you any information at the moment. We will tell you once we’ve done the process.' "
Naseer Paktiawal then received another call from his brother late that evening. Nazeer Paktiawal said his whole body was in pain, that he was sweating and shaking, and that he couldn't breathe, according to his brother. Naseer asked to speak with one of the ICE officers to explain the situation and seek help for his brother.
According to Naseer, "the only thing that [the ICE officer] told me was, ‘Don’t worry about it. We will take him to the hospital. We have nurses here. We will take care of him.' I was like, ‘OK, are you guys going to take him to the hospital? Which hospital?' They told me, ‘We cannot tell you that, but we have nurses here, and we will take care of him,' and they just hang up the phone on me."
The next Naseer Paktiawal heard of his brother's condition was early Saturday afternoon, when he received a call telling him that Nazeer had died at 9:10 a.m. that morning. Naseer said he was in shock.
"My brother was a war hero," Naseer Paktiawal said. "He chose this place to [be] a safe haven, but he didn’t know that he’s going to get kidnapped and then killed."
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