Disabled man tragically dies after dad who was his primary caregiver is detained by ICE
Topics: Immigration, Politics, US News, Texas
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: freemahertarabishi/Instagram
Topics: Immigration, Politics, US News, Texas
A lawyer has called out ICE's 'lack of humanity' after a dad who was his son's sole caregiver was detained and his child died three months later.
Wael Tarabishi was just 30 when he died last Friday (23 January). His health had declined to the point where he could no longer survive his lifelong inherited condition, and his body was laid to rest without his father present.
Maher Tarabishi was taken during a routine immigration check-in in Dallas, three months before Wael passed away from Pompe disease - a serious condition that leads to muscle weakness and heart problems, per the Cleveland Clinic.
Maher’s family had pleaded for his temporary release from the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas during a televised conference, hoping he could leave to provide specialized care for Wael.
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This is because only Maher is trained in his care.
However, when it became clear that the son wasn’t going to make it, they changed their plea to include him being able to say goodbye to his son.
Sadly, this request was denied, despite ICE’s detention standards allowing for detainees to ‘maintain ties with their families through emergency staff-escorted trips into the community to visit critically ill members of the immediate family or to attend their funerals,’ per its website.
On Tuesday, just two days before Wael’s funeral was planned, ICE declined to allow Maher to attend, the family’s attorney Ali Elhorr told CNN.
Shahd Arnaout, Wael’s sister-in-law, reported to the outlet that the family struggled to take over his 24/7 care - including bathing him, administering food and medication via a tube, and more.
“We are profoundly disappointed with ICE’s decision to deny Maher Tarabishi the opportunity to say his final goodbye to his beloved son, Wael,” Attorney Elhorr said in a statement. “Today’s decision to keep him from saying goodbye is a reflection of the tragic lack of humanity by those in charge.”
According to Arnaout, Wael’s health significantly declined after his father was taken, and as they were unable to know exactly how to care for him during emergency or serious situations, they had to involve the advice or healthcare professionals.
Scarily, Wael was taken to the hospital in November with sepsis and pneumonia, and again in December with a stomach infection due to his feeding tube being displaced.
From then, he was admitted to the ICU at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center for a month before dying on January 23.
Prior to his death, Wael penned a statement of what his relationship with his father was like before he was detained, which was read aloud by his cousin.
The statement, which was reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, revealed that Maher was the ‘one who keeps me alive when I’m at my weakest’.
He added: “Without him, I am nothing. Without him, I cannot survive.”
Maher had moved to the US in 1994 from Kuwait, but Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, who oversees the Department of Homeland Security, said he was a 'self-admitted member’ of the Palestine Liberation Organization, a group recognized as a ‘sole legitimate representative’ of the Palestinian people.
She added that he was in the US illegally for nearly 20 years even though he was told to leave via the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2006.
However, he was able to stay due to his son’s care needs.
Now, he faces being deported to Jordan.
As for Wael, Arnaout said that Maher’s detention distressed the son as she said: “Mentally, he started to recognize that ‘I don’t feel safe anymore.’ The one person that makes me feel safe and gives me hope that I will live to the next day and makes me feel like I’m a normal person is not there anymore for me.”
UNILAD has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.