It had been months since Wael Tarabishi seen his father. The family is calling on ICE to release Maher Tarabishi so he may attend his son’s funeral.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Less than a month after demanding the release of a North Texas father detained by ICE, the disabled son of that man has died, the family confirmed.

According to a press release, Wael Tarabishi was pronounced dead at about 1:55 p.m. Friday in the ICU at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center. He was 30.

“Today, he passed without his beloved father, primary caretaker and constant life companion, Maher, by his side,” the Tarabishi family said in a press release. “Now, Wael’s family calls on ICE — and all other agencies and officials with applicable power — to release Maher Tarabishi so that he may attend his son’s funeral.”

Wael Tarabishi was a U.S. citizen living with Pompe disease, his family says. At the end of last year, after his father’s arrest, his family said he had been rushed to the hospital twice. 

Maher Tarabishi’s attorney, Ali Elhorr, filed a motion to reopen his case with the Board of Immigration Appeals after recently finding the attorney who filed his original asylum application had been fraudulently practicing law without a license.

Elhorr reportedly drove to Alvarado to meet with an ICE official and ask for Maher Tarabishi’s release so he could be with his son, the family said, but that request was denied.

“ICE’s detention of Maher during the last months of Wael’s life is a tragedy that Wael’s loved ones will live with forever,” the family said. “Not allowing Maher to bury his son and say his final goodbye would only deepen the wounds left by the pain of these past few months.”

In a statement sent to WFAA in November, ICE called Maher Tarabishi a “criminal alien” and a “self-admitted member of the Palestine Liberation Organization.” The PLO has been designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. since 1987.

But since Maher Tarabishi was abducted, his family says ICE has made several untrue, defamatory claims in an effort to keep him detained.

“This was done to Maher for the ‘crime’ of being an immigrant who lived a life of peace, honesty and sacrifice in this country, while complying with immigration authorities in good faith and without fail,” the family said.

WFAA has reached out to ICE for comment on the Tarabishi family’s request.