In case you need more proof that ICE is an inherently vile institution, a Texas man currently detained by ICE was refused permission to attend his son’s funeral.
According to CNN, Maher Tarabishi was the primary caregiver for his son Wael, who suffered from Pompe disease. After Maher was detained by ICE, Wael’s health greatly declined. He was rushed to the hospital in November with sepsis and pneumonia, and once more in December due to a stomach infection caused by a displaced feeding tube.
Shahd Arnaout, Wael’s sister-in-law, told CNN that the family struggled to properly care for Wael with Maher present. “He was the one who knew, when his fever went up, what to give him right away,” Arnaout told CNN. “We had to ask multiple doctors to come and see what [medicines] to give Wael because Maher was not there to react quickly.”
WFAA reports that shortly before his death, Wael released a statement that was shared by his family. “He’s the one who keeps me alive when I’m at my weakest,” Wael’s statement read. “Without him, I am nothing. Without him, I cannot survive.” Wael died on Jan. 23, with one of his final wishes being to see his father one last time. The family asked ICE if Maher could see his son before he died. They denied the request.
“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 Ali Elhorr said in a statement Tuesday, Jan. 27. “Today’s decision to keep him from saying goodbye is a reflection of the tragic lack of humanity by those in charge.”
It’s unclear why Maher Tarabishi has been denied the ability to bury his son. According to ICE’s own website, detainees are allowed 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.”
Maher Tarabishi came to America in 1994 on a tourist visa to flee the violence in Kuwait. An immigration court initially ordered his removal in 2006, but allowed him to stay as he was his son’s primary caregiver. The only condition of his continued stay is that he attends regular immigration check-ins, which is what he was doing when he was detained.
What makes this situation even crueler is that Maher Tarabishi was in the system. He was attending his immigration check-ins. He was “doing it the right way,” as the bootlickers love to say. His only crime was trying to take care of his kid. Yet he was still detained by ICE and now doesn’t even get the dignity of burying his child.
How does this make us great? How does this make us safer? The Department of Homeland Security loves to tout how its immigration campaign is taking out the worst of the worst. I’ve seen the worst of the worst, and it’s not people like Maher Tarabishi and the 73% of ICE detainees with no criminal record. It’s the folks in the White House and the thugs in ICE who have no problem terrorizing communities, separating families, and killing American citizens. No wonder that more and more Americans support abolishing ICE.
SEE ALSO:
Trump Administration Ends Immigration Operations In Maine
Trump Admin Blocked From Targeting Documented Immigrants
ICE Refuses To Allow Detainee To Attend His Son’s Funeral
was originally published on
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Great Job Joe Jurado & the Team @ Black America Web Source link for sharing this story.
