Disabled son dies after father is detained by ICE
Executive summary
A 30-year-old U.S. citizen, Wael Tarabishi, who suffered from Pompe disease, died after about a month-long hospital stay while his father and reported primary caregiver, Maher Tarabishi, remained in ICE custody following an arrest during a routine immigration check‑in; the family says the detention contributed to Wael’s decline while ICE has offered its own account that was reported in at least one news outlet [1] [2] [3]. Reporting confirms the death and the family’s urgent pleas for Maher’s release to attend his son’s final days, but available coverage does not establish a proven causal link between the detention and the medical outcome [4] [2] [3].
1. What the reporting establishes: the facts on the death and detention
Multiple local outlets report that Wael Tarabishi, 30, died of complications related to Pompe disease after roughly a month in intensive care and earlier hospitalizations, and that his father, Maher, was arrested by immigration officers during a routine check‑in on Oct. 28 and remains detained at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson [1] [2] [3]. Coverage documents family statements that Maher had long‑standing permission to live in the U.S. to care for Wael and that family members repeatedly asked ICE to release him to be at his son’s side [2] [5].
2. Timeline and medical details in the accounts
According to the family and reporting, Wael’s condition deteriorated after his father’s arrest with hospitalizations in December, a stomach infection, at least two surgeries, a month in the ICU at Mansfield Medical Center, and eventual death on or around Jan. 25, 2026 from Pompe disease complications [2] [1] [6]. Reporting attributes the diagnosis and cause of death to the family’s statements and hospital course as described by local outlets; none of the supplied sources provides an independent medical record or a hospital statement that would allow outside verification beyond those reports [1] [2].
3. Family assertions and ICE’s public posture
The family has been explicit: they say Maher was the primary caregiver and blame ICE for separating father and son, with relatives and advocates calling for Maher’s release to attend the funeral and to have been with Wael during critical moments [3] [2] [5]. Reporting notes that the family accuses ICE of making untrue or defamatory claims to justify continued detention, and at least one story was updated to include a comment from ICE — the content of that comment is not detailed in the provided excerpts, so the record here is limited [4] [3].
4. Broader context: detention numbers and precedent of family separation issues
News coverage places the case within a larger context of high detention numbers in Texas — nearly 18,000 detained in the state as of Nov. 30 per TRAC — and other recent instances where detained relatives missed final goodbyes, fueling wider public scrutiny of immigration enforcement practices and family separation impacts [3] [7]. That context explains why the family’s plea and emotive framing have attracted statewide and national attention, but context does not substitute for direct proof of causation in this individual case [3] [7].
5. What the reporting proves — and what it does not
The verified facts are: Wael died of complications related to Pompe disease after a period of hospitalization, and his father was in ICE custody and has not been at his bedside [1] [2] [3]. What the reporting does not—and cannot yet—demonstrate is a medical determination that the detention directly caused the death; available sources provide family testimony and timelines but not independent medical causation analysis or a public ICE disclosure that explains its detention decision and responses in full [4] [1] [3].
6. Implications, accountability questions and next steps for reporting
The case raises urgent accountability and policy questions about how immigration enforcement handles detainees who are primary caregivers for medically fragile U.S. citizens, and it underscores the need for transparent ICE responses, hospital corroboration of timelines, and any records of release requests or parole considerations; those are the documents journalists and advocates should seek next to better assess causation beyond the family’s credible claims [2] [4]. Until such documentation is published, the strongest, verifiable narrative is that a medically fragile man died while his long‑time caregiver was in ICE custody — a fact that consistently motivated family outrage and calls for policy scrutiny in the cited coverage [1] [3] [2].