Are we living in some distorted, warped reality, or have news stories that once belonged to dystopian films and literature become the “new normal” and a completely ordinary elegy of our everyday life?
The story of 30-year-old Wael Tarabishi, a man with a severe disability who died, is both heartbreakingly tragic and scandalous. He passed away just a few months after his father, who was his primary caregiver, was detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). To be clear, Wael was not killed by ICE agents, but his death was a consequence of the arrest of his father, on whom he depended for both medical and emotional support.
Wael suffered from Pompe’s disease, a rare genetic condition that causes progressive muscle weakness. Without timely treatment, people with this form of disability usually die from respiratory complications.
His father emigrated to the United States from Jordan in 1994. At the end of October last year, he went for a routine check-in at the ICE Field Office in Dallas, Texas, where he was arrested and taken into custody.
A few weeks later, Wael’s health deteriorated drastically, which his family attributed to the extreme stress of his father’s detention—Wael saw his father as his hero. On the GoFundMe page set up for the Tarabishi family, they wrote:
“Wael’s body could no longer withstand the stress. We had already said that Maher’s daily presence in Wael’s life was not optional; rather, it was essential for his survival and well-being. He died without his beloved father, his primary caregiver, and constant life companion, Maher, by his side.”
Maher’s attorney, Ali Elhorr, said that the father had entered the U.S. legally with a visa, but his asylum application was denied over twenty years ago and a deportation order was issued. After Wael was officially diagnosed, Maher became his main caregiver and was thus allowed to stay in the U.S. to care for him. Maher brought a full dossier of medical documentation to his last ICE office appointment showing that Wael simply could not live without his care. He was nevertheless arrested and taken into custody.
“Maybe they didn’t kill Wael with a bullet,” said family member Shahd Arnaout to the media, “but they killed him from the inside by taking away the only person he asked for. Maher was his caregiver, his father, his best friend, his everything.”
But that isn’t all.
ICE also refused Maher’s plea to be temporarily released from detention so that he could attend his son’s funeral.
