Denied his father’s care, a disabled son died after ICE detained dad
- - Denied his father’s care, a disabled son died after ICE detained dad
Michael Collins, USA TODAYFebruary 7, 2026 at 10:09 AM
0
For years, Maher Tarabishi kept his disabled son alive.
A chronic muscular disease diagnosed when he was a child had confined Wael Tarabishi to his bed and forced him to depend on a feeding tube for survival. His father became his primary caregiver, doing whatever he needed, whenever he needed it.
The disease left Wael unable to eat, drink or walk, so the feeding tube was his lifeline. When it became clogged or dirty, Maher would clean it and could change it in an emergency. When Wael needed medication, Maher crushed the pills up finely, added a little water, and injected them into the feeding tube with a syringe. Several times a day, Maher used a suction device to remove saliva and mucus from Wael’s mouth to keep him from choking.
But when the end finally came, Maher was not at his son’s side. He was in a detention center more than three hours from the family’s home in Arlington, Texas, the same facility where he has been held since he was arrested during a routine check-in with federal immigration officials last October.
His family had pleaded for the government to release him on humanitarian grounds so he could continue his son’s care, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied the request. When Wael died on Jan. 23, federal officials barred Tarabishi from performing a final paternal act for his son: They refused to let him go to the funeral.
“ICE is responsible for the death of Wael,” said his sister-in-law, Shahd Arnaout, who watched his health rapidly deteriorate in his father’s absence.
protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. are protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.
" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/75Pye_b2ALqj85cOa484KQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/3c76aabe582dbbed67880e4a96de38cf class=caas-img data-headline="‘ICE Out’ protests spark marches, confrontations across US" data-caption="
After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. are protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.
">After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. are protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.
" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/75Pye_b2ALqj85cOa484KQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/3c76aabe582dbbed67880e4a96de38cf class=caas-img>Hundreds of people gather to protest ICE at the corner of Palafox and Garden Streets in downtown Pensacola, Florida, on Jan. 30, 2026.
" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/P5LIg74OSjRl2O0uY.pt5w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD03ODM-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/ebf2ffa816bf5365bf49209b72623e35 class=caas-img data-headline="‘ICE Out’ protests spark marches, confrontations across US" data-caption="
Hundreds of people gather to protest ICE at the corner of Palafox and Garden Streets in downtown Pensacola, Florida, on Jan. 30, 2026.
">Hundreds of people gather to protest ICE at the corner of Palafox and Garden Streets in downtown Pensacola, Florida, on Jan. 30, 2026.
" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/P5LIg74OSjRl2O0uY.pt5w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD03ODM-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/ebf2ffa816bf5365bf49209b72623e35 class=caas-img>
1 / 16‘ICE Out’ protests spark marches, confrontations across US
After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. are protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.
Tarabishi’s arrest comes amid President Donald Trump’s broad crackdown on immigrants who live in the United States illegally. The operation has included deploying hundreds of federal agents into U.S. cities and has prompted protests across the country.
Tarabishi, 62, who is originally from Jordan, is “a criminal alien and self-admitted member of the Palestine Liberation Organization – a murderous foreign terrorist organization that has carried out countless terrorist attacks and plane hijackings,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
She provided no evidence to back up the claim that Tarabishi was a member of the PLO.
Maher Tarabishi was the primary caregiver for his disabled son, Wael Tarabishi, before he was detained by federal immigration officials.
Tarabishi’s attorney and his family say he has never been a PLO member and has no criminal record. “He doesn’t even have a speeding ticket,” said Arnaout, his daughter-in-law.
In the final weeks of his life, Wael Tarabishi mourned his missing father. He cried often and called out for him. In a video shot in his hospital room in November and posted on Instagram, Wael described his life as hell without his father by his side.
“He was the person who helped me want to live for tomorrow,” he said from his hospital bed, his voice soft and somber. “And I don’t have anything to live for in this life.”
Without him, he added, “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”
A father, a son and a 'miracle'
When Wael was a child, doctors told his parents he’d probably never live past age 10. He made it to 30, an astounding feat that family members attribute to the care and devotion of his father.
Wael called his dad “my miracle.”
Wael suffered from Pompe disease, a genetic condition in which a complex sugar called glycogen builds up in the body’s cells and can cause muscle weakness, feeding issues, respiratory problems, an enlarged heart or liver and other issues. It’s a rare disease, affecting about one in every 40,000 people.
Once diagnosed, it can progress rapidly. When Wael was 3, he started to have trouble breathing. A minor fall would result in broken bones. Doctors made the dire diagnosis when he was 4. By the time he was 5 or 6, he was unable to walk. Over time, his condition deteriorated, and he required highly specialized, round-the-clock care.
His father made sure he got it.
Maher Tarabishi had come to the United States from Kuwait on a tourist visa in 1994, along with his wife and eldest son. A year later, Wael was born, a U.S. citizen. Maher was an IT engineer by trade but struggled to find work in the United States, so he opened a shop where he repaired DVD players, TVs and other electronics. As Wael’s condition worsened, he gave up his job so he could devote all his attention to caring for his son.
Already close, father and son grew even tighter in the face of Wael’s illness. “I never saw this kind of bond before – never – between a father and son,” Arnaout said.
'Your eyes don't lie': Trump, ICE, a death and a turning point
They watched sports together, mostly football and basketball. They joked constantly with each other. Caring for Wael became Tarabishi’s life.
He “dropped everything,” Arnaout said. “He doesn’t have friends. He doesn’t go out. He just wanted to be there for (Wael), and he wanted to make sure that he felt like the other kids.”
When his tourist visa expired, Tarabishi applied for asylum in the United States. By the time the request was denied in 2006 and a deportation order issued for his removal, he had been living in the United States for more than a decade.
Tarabishi appealed the removal order. In 2011, the Obama administration filed an order to dismiss the immigration case against him on the grounds that he was his disabled son’s primary caregiver. Tarabishi was allowed to remain in the country but was required to check in once a year with immigration officials in Dallas.
'This job sucks': Trump administration attorney leaves Minnesota post
Every year, he did. He reported to the Dallas field office on Oct. 28, carrying a folder filled with documentation showing he was his son’s caregiver. He never came home. For hours, his family was sick with worry, wondering what had happened. Finally, he phoned.
“They took me away,” Tarabishi told his family during the one- or two-minute call.
“We were just trying to get answers from him, like, where are you? What do you mean they took you? Who took you?” Arnaout recalled.
“All he kept saying was, ‘Take care of Wael.’”
'You're lying. He's not dead.'
With Tarabishi away, Wael’s care fell upon his family. What had been a job for one person now became a job for five. His mother, aunt, brother, cousin and sister-in-law all did what they could. They worked in shifts – some at night, others during the day – to give him 24/7 care. But they worried it wasn’t enough.
What if they made a mistake? What if they accidentally caused Wael more pain? What, they wondered, would Maher do?
Stressed by his father’s absence, Wael’s health declined.
On Nov. 20, three weeks after his father was detained, Wael came down with a 103-degree fever and had to be rushed to Methodist Mansfield Medical Center. He had developed sepsis and pneumonia in both lungs. He remained in the hospital in critical condition for five days. It was the first time he had required hospitalization in two years.
With Wael’s consent, his exhausted family decided to get a home-health nurse to assist with his care. But before that could happen, another crisis occurred.
On Christmas Eve, his feeding tube somehow dislodged from his stomach. His mother, scared and crying, tried in vain to put it back in. Desperate, the family managed to get Tarabishi on a video call so he could walk them through the process. Still, nothing worked. After two or three tries, they called 911.
“Wael was scared,” Arnaout said, “because usually his dad would do it in five minutes. Now, he’s thinking something wrong is happening with him.”
At the hospital, doctors rushed Wael into surgery. They planned to create a new hole for the feeding tube by going inside his stomach, which would allow the wound to heal quicker. But after several failed attempts, they ended the operation and decided to try later.
Two days after the aborted operation, they tried again. This time, they discovered that a port in Wael’s chest had become dangerously infected. Doctors removed the port and stitched him up but felt it was too risky to open another hole in his stomach. Again, they waited.
Wael never regained consciousness. His blood pressure dropped, his fever shot up to almost 106, and, after 30 days in the hospital, his body gave out.
He died in his sleep.
“You’re lying. He’s not dead,” his devastated father said when relatives told him the news. “He’ll be fine. I’ll be released soon. I’m going to see him.”
Dealing with death. And ICE.
Ali Elhorr, the family’s attorney, had tried without success to get ICE to release Tarabishi so he could care for his son. Now that Wael was dead, he asked that the father be freed long enough to go to his funeral.
Elhorr had been in contact with multiple ICE officers who had been willing to facilitate Tarabishi’s supervised release for the burial, he said during an interview with USA TODAY. They had discussed funeral logistics, conditions imposed by ICE and other details. Initial steps had been taken to move Tarabishi from the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, and into a facility closer to his family, the attorney said.
Then Elhorr got a call from one of the agents he had been dealing with. The agent reported that his director had stepped in and informed him that Tarabishi would not be permitted to attend the funeral. Elhorr asked to speak to the director and was told that his request would be sent to the director’s office. But the director never called.
“I was devastated for the family,” Elhorr said.
'Standard protocol': Agents in Alex Pretti shooting placed on leave as ICE backlash continues
A Homeland Security spokesperson did not respond directly to questions from USA TODAY about why the funeral request was denied. The spokesperson referred a reporter to the earlier statement about Tarabishi’s arrest.
Elhorr said the family doesn’t know the origin of the claim that Tarabishi was a member of the PLO. He suspects it might be tied to Tarabishi’s initial asylum application, which was filed by a man who the family later learned had been fraudulently practicing law without a license.
The family has been discussing other legal options to get Tarabishi released, Elhorr said. But before they could focus on that, they had to get through Wael’s funeral.
Maher Tarabishi and his son, Wael, who was diagnosed with a rare muscular disease as a child.A father grieves
The family buried Wael on Thursday, Jan. 29, six days after his death. The funeral had been delayed because snow and ice had blanketed the ground in north central Texas, closing roads and businesses. It was still chilly, breezy and muddy the day of the service.
In keeping with Muslim tradition, Wael’s brother and cousin washed the body before it was taken to the mosque for prayers. Hundreds showed up for the service. His mother, overcome with grief, sat on one side of the room, surrounded by other women who tried to console her. Her pain was so consuming, her loss so devastating, that she couldn’t bring herself to go to the cemetery.
Court ruling: 5-year-old boy, father detained by federal agents in Minnesota can't be deported: Judge
During the service, Arnaout scanned the room, hoping to spot Tarabishi’s face. Maybe ICE changed its mind, she thought. Maybe he was allowed to come to the funeral after all, she hoped. Wael would have wanted that, she knew.
But he wasn’t there.
Later, he called.
How did it go, he wanted to know. How many people showed up? Did anyone ask about him?
“Everyone here was talking about you,” Arnaout assured him.
“He felt so alone,” she said.
A father without his son. Kept apart during his final days, separated now by death.
And denied the chance to say goodbye.
Michael Collins writes about the intersection of politics and culture. A veteran reporter, he has covered the White House and Congress. Follow him on X: @mcollinsNEWS
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Disabled Texas man dies after ICE refuses to free caregiver father
Source: “AOL Breaking”
