The death of nearly blind refugees – abandoned in a closed Tim Hortons by the US Border Patrol – has decided to kill
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The death of a nearly blind refugee from Myanmar who was found on a street in Buffalo, NY, in February — five days after US Border Patrol left him outside a Tim Hortons — has been ruled a homicide.
The Erie County Medical Examiner’s office has not reached a conclusion on the cause of death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, which the agency said Wednesday was caused by complications of a duodenal ulcer, caused by hypothermia and dehydration. Manslaughter means that it is caused by someone else’s actions – or inaction – but it does not mean that a crime has been committed.
“This should not have happened,” Erie County Sheriff Mark Poloncarz said at a news conference Wednesday.
When asked if the Border Patrol was the cause of his death, he refused to comment and said that such a determination will be in the hands of the law enforcement agencies.
State Attorney General Letitia James and Erie County District Attorney Mike Keane said Wednesday that their offices were reviewing the case. Keane said in a statement that his office had requested a full autopsy report on Shah Alam but “it would be inappropriate” for him to comment further.
The border agency denied responsibility
US Customs and Border Protection pointed out Wednesday in its previous statement that Shah Alam “did not show signs of depression, mobility problems, or disabilities requiring special assistance” when agents took him out on Feb. 19 at a Tim Hortons restaurant.
“This death has nothing to do” with the Border Patrol, its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, said on social media in late February, condemning media coverage of the case as an attempt to “abuse our law enforcement.”
“Border Patrol personnel offered him a ride, which he chose to meet at a coffee shop, determined to be a warm and safe place near his last known address, rather than being released at a Border Patrol police station,” the statement said in a statement.
In fact, Tim Hortons was closed when Shah Alam was ousted. Surveillance video, obtained by local news outlet Investigative Post, showed Shah Alam carefully stepping into an empty parking lot on county-issued prison books, pulling on his hood from the cold and walking off into the night.
Shah Alam’s attorney last reported him missing to Buffalo police on Feb. 22.
Immigration advocates called Wednesday for justice for Shah Alam, who is a member of the Rohingya Muslim minority. The group has faced discrimination and repression in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Shah Alam sought safety in the US and “instead, he was left to die on the street,” said New York Immigration Coalition president Murad Awawdeh, who called for a criminal investigation into the behavior of Border Patrol agents: “Every single person involved must be held accountable.”
The governor condemns ‘cruelty and brutality’
Gov. Kathy Hochul similarly demanded accountability from everyone involved and said her assistants spoke with the district attorney Wednesday afternoon. Hochul, a Democrat and Buffalo native, decried the “cruelty and brutality” of putting a man who couldn’t see or speak English outside the then-closed restaurant.
Many details about the man’s life and last days are not publicly known, as his autopsy report is confidential under New York law.
But Erie County Health Commissioner Gale Burstein told reporters that Shah Alam had what is commonly known as a stress ulcer. The wound pierced the wall of his intestine, making what is usually a medical emergency that requires immediate treatment, he said.
On February 24, he was found dead near the city’s stadium where the NHL’s Buffalo Sabers play. It’s unclear how he got there from the Tim Hortons, a few miles away, and Burstein said Wednesday it was impossible to determine when he died.
His family, who were awaiting his release from prison, were not notified, although local immigration advocates have said the Border Patrol is not legally required to do so.
Shah Alam, 56, left Myanmar many years ago for Malaysia, where he worked in construction. He came to the US as a refugee with his wife and two children in December 2024, according to the family’s lawyers.
Imran Fazal, who knows the family and founded a group called Rohingya Empowerment Community, said Shah Alam’s death has left people sad and scared.
“This tragedy was completely avoidable, and it shows a huge failure in the programs designed to protect vulnerable people,” Fazal said on Wednesday.
Shah Alam spent a year in the Erie County Jail on assault and other charges after a 2025 standoff with police who found him carrying what appeared to be crutches in the backyard of a home that wasn’t his.
The police said he bit two officers; His family’s lawyers said that he did not understand the police orders to dispose of these items.
He ended up pleading guilty to two lesser charges, and is not due to be released from prison again on February 19. The Border Patrol then detained him briefly before deciding he was not eligible for deportation.
