Congressman Tim Kennedy, a Buffalo Democrat, stood Friday afternoon on the grounds of the former HSBC Atrium on Perry Street near Washington Street, not far from where Nurul Amin Shah Alam was found dead in late February, days after he dropped off at a closed coffee shop five miles away in Buffalo’s Black Rock neighborhood.
Kennedy brought some company, three fellow Democrats who were in Buffalo for a congressional delegation visit to the U.S.-Canada border. All of them sit on relevant House committees or subcommittees, two of them as ranking members.
“I'm here as the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security in support of Congressman Kennedy's effort to get to the bottom of what happened in his district to his constituent,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi. “It makes no sense that an individual will be abandoned in any situation, leaving protective custody like what we have here in this situation.”
What Kennedy is demanding, in a letter he and Thompson have co-signed to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, is the full cooperation of DHS with the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, in the latter’s investigation into the circumstances leading to Alam’s death.
“For over six months, DHS has met every question about what happened to Mr. Shah Alam with silence and obstruction, and we're here today to demand that stop,” Kennedy said.
A Rohingya man living in the United States since 2024 under legal refugee status, Alam was severely visually impaired and did not speak English. He was arrested in February 2025 and charged with trespassing and weapons counts, the weapon in question being a curtain rod he had reportedly purchased to use as a walking stick. He was held in the Erie County Holding Center for nearly a year, then released on bail in February 2026.
On February 19, he was taken into custody of federal border patrol agents who held him until the determined he was "not amendable for removal.” He was dropped off at a closed Tim Hortons shop off Niagara Street near Ontario Street. Alam’s family and attorney say they did not receive notification of his release and did not know his whereabouts.
Buffalo Police found Alam dead off Perry Street five days later. The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office deemed his death a homicide.
As national attention to Alam’s death grew, DHS released a statement on its X account, claiming border patrol agents offered a courtesy ride to Alam, that he accepted the coffee shop as a safe and warm dropoff site, and that Alam showed no signs of mobility issues or disabilities.
“We know that neither his family nor his attorney were notified of his release. We know that DHS’s initial account claimed that he was dropped in a warm, safe location and showed no signs of distress, and we know video evidence has proven that that is false,” Kennedy said. “DHS has lost all credibility.”
“What we're here asking is merely information to complete an investigation into what happened when an individual lost their life,” said Rep. Lou Correa of California, Border Security Subcommittee Ranking Member, and one of Kennedy’s guests. “Was that individual left in a situation to perish? What happened? Are those officers not trained to figure out what to do? Do they lack the training? What happened? What went wrong? We want the federal government, our federal government, to cooperate with local law and order, local investigators, to come up with answers. Let's start there.”
Shortly after Alam’s death, Kennedy asked New York Attorney General Letitia James to open an inquiry. Her office did, but dropped their criminal investigation upon determining they did not have jurisdiction under state law. James did encourage the Erie County District Attorney’s Office to conduct their own.
Rep. Nellie Pou of New Jersey, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, suggests the silence coming from DHS is happening in many different areas. She says it needs to stop, and she says federal officials need to cooperate by providing the information that will help another law enforcement agency, such as the Erie County DA.
“What is it that they are afraid of? What do they have to hide?” Pou asked. “I would say, let's let them have to prove the fact that what they are saying is absolutely correct, because we believe that if they continue to withhold that information, it is clear that they do not want to release the facts and be truthful about what happened.”
Kennedy suggests if DHS wishes to continue stonewalling local investigators, one way he and his colleagues would be able to gain cooperation is by retaking the congressional majority in midterm elections, when colleagues like Thompson would regain the power to subpoena key individuals for questioning.
“We shouldn't have to use a subpoena to have accountability in the Department of Homeland Security. They should be doing the right thing legally and morally right now, and that's what we're calling for them to do,” Kennedy said.
