Former Afghan ally who died in ICE custody suffered an allergic reaction, death certificate says

An Afghan national who fought alongside U.S. forces died from an allergic reaction while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one day after he was detained for deportation proceedings, his death certificate shows.

Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, 41, suffered “an adverse drug reaction” to an unidentified substance, which triggered anaphylaxis and exacerbated his asthma, according to the document. His March 14 death at a Dallas hospital was ruled to be an accident.

Paktiawal’s sudden death in ICE custody has drawn outrage because he had risked his life fighting as an ally of U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan for a decade.

Out of more than 50 ICE detention deaths during President Donald Trump’s second term, Paktiawal’s is the first to be ruled an accident, according to tracking by The Associated Press. Most of the others have been blamed on natural causes or suicide.

An advocacy group, AfghanEvac, and two members of Congress on Monday called on Texas authorities to release his autopsy report, which they have sought to withhold by arguing its disclosure would interfere with a pending criminal investigation.

“This family has a right to know what happened,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac. He asked authorities to explain what substance triggered the allergic reaction, how it got into his system and why the date of the injury on the death certificate was listed as the day before Paktiawal was taken into custody.

“What’s happening here smacks of a cover-up,” added Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who said he would ask the Department of Homeland Security to release the autopsy.

Paktiawal was evacuated with thousands of others from Afghanistan when U.S. troops pulled out in 2021. He entered the U.S. through a legal process and requested asylum to stay. That claim was pending when ICE arrested him at his home in Richardson, Texas, on March 13 as he was getting some of his six children ready for school.

ICE has defended its decision to target Paktiawal for deportation, noting he had been arrested on food stamp fraud and theft charges. He had not been convicted in either case.

ICE did not respond to questions Monday, referring to its previously released report on Paktiawal’s death, which said he was screened at its Dallas field office and denied any medical conditions or allergies. Hours later, he began experiencing shortness of breath and chest pain in a holding room and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

The next morning, hospital staff noted swelling of his tongue while he was eating breakfast and gave him epinephrine, a drug that treats allergic reactions. He was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later after life-saving measures were unsuccessful.

The certificate lists the cause of death as “anaphylaxis complicating acute asthma exacerbation.” Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction typically triggered by food, drugs or insect venom. The document lists the toxic effects of methamphetamine, heart disease and cigarette smoking as contributing factors.

Relatives said they did not know Paktiawal to use meth, and a second autopsy performed for the family could not confirm whether he had meth in his system because no blood remained for testing, VanDiver said. His wife has said that he relied on an inhaler for asthma, but ICE agents rejected her attempt to give them the device when he was taken into custody.

“What accident are they talking about?” Paktiawal’s younger brother, Naseer Paktiawal, asked Monday. “We just want the truth.”

Naseer remembered his brother as a special forces soldier who fought in the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan. After settling in the U.S., Paktiawal became a truck driver and worked at a market and bakery, laboring long hours to support his family, his brother said.

The cause and manner of death were established by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office after an autopsy.

County authorities have refused to release the report, citing statements from ICE officials that doing so would interfere with a federal investigation into the death. They have asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office for permission to withhold the record under a “law enforcement exception” to the state’s open records law.

In response to the AP’s request for the report, Dallas County official Jennifer Rose wrote that “its release would interfere with the detection, investigation, and prosecution of a crime.”

Paxton’s office hasn’t ruled on the matter, but previously granted a similar request from another Texas county to withhold the autopsy report of a Vietnamese man who died in ICE custody in July 2025, records show.