Until three months ago, Wael Tarabishi and his father, Maher, were inseparable. It was a necessity; in addition to being best friends, Maher was the caretaker for 30-year-old Wael, who was diagnosed with a progressive muscle disorder called Pompe disease when he was a child.
As Wael’s mother said in November, Maher was his son’s “case manager, his equipment company, his doctor, his everything”.
But in late October, Maher was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after a routine visit to a field office in Dallas. It was the same visit the Jordan-born Maher had made for years, ever since he was allowed to remain in the US because he is his son’s primary caretaker. Without that care, Wael’s condition rapidly deteriorated. He was repeatedly hospitalized and underwent multiple surgeries, all while the family pleaded with the federal government to release Maher or grant him the ability to communicate with his son. Every request was ignored or denied.
On 23 January, Wael died in the hospital – and Maher has now been denied the chance to attend his son’s funeral.
“ICE is responsible for the death of Wael Tarabishi,” said Shahd Arnaout, Maher’s daughter-in-law. “They may not have killed him with a bullet, but they killed him inside. They killed him mentally. How many people need to die until this stops?”
Maher came to the US in 1994 on a tourist visa and later sought asylum. His asylum claim was denied in 2006, but he was allowed to remain under supervised release. When he was arrested, he became part of the majority of ICE detainees who have no criminal record.
The Tarabishis have been unable to contact Maher on their own; they have to wait until he calls from his detention center roughly three hours from their home. When he called and heard the news about his son, he didn’t believe it at first.
“No, no, this is not happening,” he said over the phone. “Wael promised me that he will wait for me. Wael promised me that he’s going to see me one last time.”
Arnaout made similar promises.
“I promised Wael a lot that you’re not going to die without seeing your father,” Arnaout said, her voice breaking. “That’s a promise from me, but it didn’t happen.”
After Wael’s death, the family and their attorney, Ali Elhorr, urgently requested that ICE allow Maher to attend his son’s funeral under supervision.
Elhorr shared text messages and transcripts of voicemails where it is clear that arrangements were being discussed among officers, which gave the family hope.
“There were preliminary steps already being taken,” Elhorr said, including moving Maher to a detention center closer to home so he could attend the funeral. “Management was talking, discussing the request.”
Then a final decision came “from higher up”: Maher would not be able to attend the funeral.
The Guardian reached out to ICE and asked about the reason for this decision and a spokesperson said an official request had not been made. Yet documentation provided by Elhorr said the request was being discussed as early as Monday morning.
The Guardian once again asked ICE why the request was denied, but did not receive a reply.
ICE has repeatedly claimed Maher is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the internationally recognized representative of Palestinians that, at one time, the US claimed was a terrorist organization.
“This PLO claim really has come out of nowhere for us,” said Elhorr, the attorney. “Maher was not part of the PLO.”
Elhorr added that the allegation may trace back to Maher’s original immigration filings, which were prepared decades ago by an individual later found to have been fraudulently practicing law.
“It’s been proven in a court of law that this individual was practicing law without a license,” Elhorr said.
In recent weeks, Elhorr has taken the lead on communicating with ICE on behalf of the family. A few conversations stand out, including one where an agent expressed remorse over how the situation was being handled.
“He did tell me he believes Maher was part of a terrorist organization and he does deserve to be deported – but his family doesn’t deserve to be harmed because of that,” Elhorr said.
For her part, Arnaout stressed that Maher’s detention – and ICE’s refusal to release him, even temporarily – has been deeply traumatic for her and her family. Her husband quit his job to remain at the hospital by Wael’s side, sleeping there for nearly a week. Arnaout quit a second job to help shuttle Wael’s mother back and forth to the hospital.
Yet despite this pain, they know Maher is going through something far worse.
“We have each other here,” she said. “But he’s alone there.”
As she prepares to attend Wael’s funeral without Maher, Arnaout’s greatest hope is that people in the US and abroad will pay attention to what ICE is doing to families like hers.
“People need to open their eyes and look around,” she said. “This is the reality that we live in.”
