Disabled US citizen dies after caregiver father detained by ICE

• ICE denied 62-year-old Maher Tarabishi’s request to attend the funeral of his son, Wael, who died on January 23 from Pompe disease; the family contends that Wael's health plummeted after Maher, his primary caregiver for 30 years, was detained during a routine check-in.
• Despite Maher’s clean criminal record and 15 years of supervised release, ICE justified his detention by labeling him a "criminal alien" with alleged PLO ties—claims the family denies, asserting they are based on a fraudulent asylum application filed decades ago by an unlicensed practitioner.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denied a humanitarian request for Maher Tarabishi, a 62-year-old detained in Texas, to attend the funeral of his son, Wael Tarabishi, who died on January 23 from complications related to Pompe disease.

The denial, issued on Tuesday, intensified criticism of ICE's handling of the case, with the family attributing Wael's decline and death to the stress and loss of specialized care following his father's detention.

Maher Tarabishi arrived in the United States in 1994 on a tourist visa and later applied for asylum, which was denied in 2006, resulting in a deportation order.

However, he was granted deferred action and supervised release in 2011 due to his essential role as the primary caregiver for Wael, a US citizen born in 1995 who required constant medical attention.

Maher complied with annual ICE check-ins for over 15 years without incident, maintaining no criminal record.

Wael was diagnosed with Pompe disease at age four, a rare genetic disorder causing progressive muscle deterioration.

Doctors initially predicted he would not survive beyond age 10, but he lived to 30, which the family credits to Maher's dedicated 24-hour care, including managing medical equipment, nutrition, and hospital advocacy.

Following Maher's detention on October 28, 2025, during a routine appointment in Dallas, Wael's health deteriorated rapidly, leading to hospitalizations in November and December 2025 for pneumonia, sepsis, and a dislodged feeding tube, culminating in surgery in mid-January 2026 from which he did not recover.

The family, through attorney Ali Elhorr, repeatedly requested Maher's release to allow him to be with Wael during his final days, but these pleas were denied.

After Wael's death at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, efforts shifted to securing humanitarian parole for the funeral, initially scheduled for Wednesday but postponed to Thursday.

ICE informed Elhorr that a director intervened to block the attendance, though the agency later claimed no formal request was received.

ICE justified Maher's detention by alleging ties to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), labeling him a "criminal alien," despite the PLO not being designated a terrorist organization by the US since the 1990s.

The family and Elhorr vehemently deny these claims, asserting they stem from a fraudulent asylum application filed by an unlicensed practitioner in the early 2000s.
A motion to reopen the asylum case was filed with the Board of Immigration Appeals on January 23.

Shahd Arnaout, Wael's daughter-in-law, has publicly condemned ICE, stating, "They may not have killed Wael with a bullet, but they killed him inside by taking the only person he asked for."

Wael himself, in a November 2025 hospital video, described his father as "my hero, my safe place," pleading for Maher's release. The family has launched a GoFundMe for legal fees and urged contacts with elected officials.