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Footage Contradicts DHS Claim of Dropping Refugee at “Safe Location” in Buffalo

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27.02.2026

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Surveillance footage taken at a Tim Hortons donut shop in Buffalo, New York contradicts the US Department of Homeland Security’s claim that Border Patrol agents dropped Nurul Shah Alam, a 56-year-old nearly blind Rohingya refugee, at a “warm, safe location” after he was released from jail last week, days before he was found dead.

The video obtained by the Buffalo-based outlet Investigative Postlate Wednesday showed a white van pulling up to the shop at about 8:18 pm Eastern, more than an hour after the store — except its drive-thru window — had closed for the night.

A man identified by the Investigative Post as Shah Alam is seen walking by the drive-thru window and then approaching the locked door before walking across the parking lot.

Breaking: IPost has obtained footage showing a Border Patrol van dropping off Nurul Shah Alam at a closed Tim Hortons last Thursday.Shah Alam, nearly-blind & unable to enter the shop, then wandered the city for days. He was found dead Tuesday.https://t.co/fCtRtaxaU9 pic.twitter.com/VkEqgiAUVe— Investigative Post (@ipostnews) February 27, 2026

Breaking: IPost has obtained footage showing a Border Patrol van dropping off Nurul Shah Alam at a closed Tim Hortons last Thursday.Shah Alam, nearly-blind & unable to enter the shop, then wandered the city for days. He was found dead Tuesday.https://t.co/fCtRtaxaU9 pic.twitter.com/VkEqgiAUVe

The Border Patrol agents who dropped off Shah Alam — who spoke no English and was blind in one eye with partial, blurry vision in the other — appeared to make no attempt to ensure the Tim Hortons was actually a “safe, warm location” that he could access. The van pulled out of the parking lot less than a minute after Shah Alam was seen exiting it.

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When the news broke Wednesday that Shah Alam’s body had been found on a Buffalo street days after he was dropped off following his release — and after subfreezing temperatures hit the Western New York City over the........

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