Afghan Father Who Fought with U.S. Military Dies in ICE Custody Less Than 24 Hours After Being Detained

Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, a 41-year-old father of six, was detained by ICE in front of his children outside Dallas. By the next morning, he was dead

NEED TO KNOW

• Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, a 41-year-old father of six, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in front of his children outside Dallas on March 14
• He died the next morning at a Dallas hospital, according to ICE
• Paktyawal served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan and was evacuated to the United States after the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed government

An Afghan father of six who came to the United States after the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas and died within 24 hours, despite his service working alongside U.S. troops in his home country, his family announced.

Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, 41, “was a loving husband and father” and “his children adored him,” his family wrote in a statement provided by the organization AfghanEvac on Sunday, March 15. His youngest child is 18 months old.

Paktyawal and his family came to the United States and settled in Richardson, Texas, “hoping for safety and a better life,” and the father had “tried to build a peaceful life after everything our family had been through.”

“The morning he was taken away, he was getting ready to drive his children to school,” the family wrote. “His children watched as he was surrounded and taken away. That moment will stay with them forever.”

“Later that night we were told he had been taken to the hospital. The next morning we were told that he had died,” the statement continued, with the family noting Paktyawal was “a strong and healthy man” and that “his children keep asking when their father will come home.”

ICE confirmed in a statement that Paktyawal was in custody for one day when he died on March 14 at Parkland Hospital in Dallas at 9:10 a.m. The agency claimed he had “a known criminal history” including two arrests last year for “SNAP fraud,” referring to the federal food stamps program, and theft. Administration officials did not say if he was convicted of the alleged crimes.

The agency and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for additional information on his criminal history and the administration’s process for handling the immigration cases of people who fled their homelands in part due to fear of reprisal for working with U.S. troops.

In its initial statement, ICE said Paktyawal did not report a prior medical history, and DHS said in a separate post on social media that he provided “NO RECORD of military service.” Federal immigration authorities noted he entered the country via Washington Dulles International Airport in Maryland on Aug. 21, 2021, and was granted parole by an immigration officer.

The last U.S. troops evacuated Afghanistan at the end of August 2021 as the Taliban retook power in the country. 

In a statement, AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver said Paktyawal was specifically evacuated from Afghanistan by the U.S. government during its military withdrawal in 2021.

“Mr. Paktyawal survived our war in Afghanistan and trusted the United States enough to rebuild his life here,” VanDiver said. “His family deserves answers. The American public deserves answers. The U.S. service members who fought alongside Afghan partners deserve answers.”

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Paktyawal’s parole expired on Aug. 20, 2025, according to ICE. The agency says Paktyawal’s death is under internal investigation, as is required by law. 

“ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments,” the agency said in its statement. The American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are among the numerous human rights groups to report widespread civil rights violations and abuse, including of children, at ICE facilities and detention centers across the United States amid President Donald Trump’s deportation push. 

Rep. Marc Veasey, a Dallas-area Democrat, said he visited the facility where Paktyawal was taken just last week and demanded “a full and transparent investigation and immediate answers from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.” 

Over 40 people have died in ICE custody in the first 14 months of Trump’s second term, with 12 dying so far in 2026 alone, per researcher Austin Kocher and writer Adam Sawyer.

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