AUSTIN — An Afghan immigrant who lived in the Dallas area died over the weekend less than 24 hours after being taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, the agency confirmed Sunday.
Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal died Saturday morning at Parkland Memorial Hospital. He was admitted to the hospital about 11:45 p.m. Friday, according to the advocacy group #AfghanEvac, which first reported his death.
Shawn VanDiver, #AfghanEvac’s president, said Paktyawal had spoken to his brother on Friday night. The cause of the death is unknown, VanDiver said, but he called for an investigation. Paktyawal was arrested by ICE on Friday morning while preparing to drive his children to school, VanDiver said.
“It is highly unusual for an otherwise healthy 41-year-old man to die less than a day after being taken into government custody, and the circumstances surrounding his detention and medical care raise urgent questions,” VanDiver said.
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The agency said Paktyawal was arrested March 13 and did not report a prior medical history during his arrest or while he was being processed.
Paktyawal began complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains while being held in a holding room at the Dallas ICE field office on Friday evening and was taken to the hospital to receive breathing treatment, the agency said.
While eating breakfast on Saturday morning, medical staff noticed his tongue was swollen, “prompting a medical response,” the agency said.
He died despite multiple lifesaving efforts, the agency said.
A report by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office does not list a cause of death but listed the time of death around 9 a.m. Saturday.
Naseer Paktiawal, Paktyawal’s younger brother, said in a series of text messages Sunday that he spoke to his brother while he was being held at the field office and his brother said he was not feeling well. He said he called 911 but they did not allow the emergency staff to check on him.
Around 11 p.m., his brother called him again and told him he was feeling worse, complaining of pain and that he couldn’t breathe.
He said he received a call around 1 p.m. from ICE telling him of his brother’s death.
“(I) went to the hospital they told me we don’t have too much to share with you at the moment,” Paktiawal said.
Besmil Zazai, 38, a family friend, said he received a call from Paktyawal’s brother on Saturday afternoon telling him Paktyawal had died.
“This was actually shocking to me,” Zazai, 38, said.
Zazai went to Parkland Memorial Hospital around 3 p.m. with Paktyawal’s brother and other community members, he said. Around 7 p.m., representatives with the hospital, including a doctor, said the death was under investigation. Paktyawal’s brother was not allowed to see the body, Zazai said.
“He was healthy,” Zazai said. “From the outside, everyone could see a healthy man.”
In the 2025 calendar year, ICE reported 33 deaths of individuals in custody, the highest in over two decades.
Two of those deaths took place at the Dallas ICE field office in a shooting where the shooter killed two detainees and injured a third before killing himself. Federal authorities said the shooter acted alone and was targeting ICE agents and did not intend to harm detainees.
Paktyawal is the 12th person to die in 2026, according to agency information compiled by Reuters.
Wendi Hawthorne, a spokeswoman for Parkland Health, said that federal law prohibits the hospital from discussing patient information and referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security.
Paktyawal was a former Afghan special forces soldier who worked alongside U.S. Army Special Forces beginning in 2005, VanDiver said. He and his family were evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021 and settled in Richardson, Texas, with his wife and six children and he worked at a halal market.
ICE said he was paroled into the U.S. on Aug. 21, 2021, but his parole expired in August 2025. VanDiver said he had a pending asylum case.
Paktyawal was arrested twice in 2025, ICE said. Once was for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud and another arrest was for theft. The agency, however, did not say if he had been convicted of either charge.
Spokespeople for ICE and DHS did not respond to follow-up questions on his arrests.