WASHINGTON, DC – Advocacy groups are demanding answers after an Afghan asylum seeker in the United States died just hours after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The death of 41-year-old Mohommad Nazir Pakchawar comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up immigration enforcement as part of a massive deportation campaign.
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The move often touched the lives of the roughly 70,000 Afghans who fled to the United States following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, like Pakchawal, who served with U.S. forces during Washington’s two-year military deployment to Afghanistan. Thousands of other Afghans have since immigrated to the United States, fearing Taliban retaliation.
Pakchawal’s family described him as a “loving husband and father” of six children who worked at a halal market and bakery near his home in Richardson, Texas.
In a statement carried through the AfghanEvac advocacy group, he said he was detained on March 13 as he went to drop his children off at school.
“The children watched as he was surrounded and taken away,” the family said in a statement. “That moment will stay with them forever.”
Less than 24 hours later, he was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“We cannot understand how this could have happened. He was only 41 years old, a strong and healthy person,” they said. “His kids keep asking when he’s coming home.”
“Waiver of Duty of Care”
Meanwhile, ICE said in a statement that Pakchawal complained of shortness of breath and chest pain during the procedure. He was then rushed to nearby Parkland Hospital for treatment.
The agency said that the next morning, medical staff noticed that Pakchawal’s tongue was swollen and “after numerous life-saving attempts, he was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m.”
ICE also called Pakchawar, also known as Mohammad Nazir Pakhtiawar, a “criminal illegal alien” and said he had been previously arrested by “local authorities” on charges of fraud and theft involving food benefits from the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
But AfghanEvac founder Sean Vandiver told Al Jazeera in an interview that the “criminal” label was meant to distract from Pakchawar’s death. He said Pakchawal was never charged, let alone convicted, after his arrest.
“They’re not saying he wasn’t charged, they’re not saying he wasn’t convicted,” Vandiver said.
“It is not normal for a healthy 41-year-old man to die within 24 hours of being taken into custody,” he said. “His death shows a dereliction of duty of care.”
Afghanistan Evac said Pakchawal had been a member of the Afghan special forces since 2005, working with U.S. special forces in Paktika province.
The Afghan American Foundation was among the groups calling for a thorough investigation.
“No matter what your views on immigration policy are, the men who served with the U.S. military for more than a decade, took legal status to seek refuge in the United States, raised their families here, and lived here as neighbors and fathers deserve to be treated with dignity,” the group said in a statement.
“He deserved basic and proper care. He deserved to survive,” it said.
hardline immigration policy
Pakchawal’s death comes as human rights groups have repeatedly warned about the treatment of U.S. migrant detainees, whose numbers have soared amid the Trump administration’s crackdown.
Immigration experts said this included increased detention of legally admitted refugees and asylum seekers.
After all, the number of ICE detainees skyrocketed during President Trump’s first year in office, increasing from 40,000 to 73,000 as of January 2026, according to the American Immigration Council.
Meanwhile, Afghans living in the United States are under special scrutiny from the Trump administration.
In November 2025, after an Afghan national shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., killing one soldier, the administration announced that it would suspend issuing new visas to Afghan nationals and suspend decisions on asylum applications.
Advocacy groups denounced the move as “collective punishment.”
Even Afghans working with the U.S. military and other organizations, groups that have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support, were not immune to hardline policies.
A court has ordered that the government must continue to process Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), which are granted to individuals who have worked in direct support of the U.S. military, but advocates say the program has effectively ground to a halt.
The Trump administration has effectively cut off refugee routes for Afghans, curtailing the U.S. refugee program and favoring white South Africans instead.
The administration also ended Temporary Protected Status for Afghans, leaving an estimated 11,700 Afghans in the United States without deportation protection, according to the group Global Refuge.
