Wael Tarabishi, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen with severe Pompe disease, has died after his father — his lifelong caregiver — was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Maher Tarabishi, 62, a Jordanian national who had lived in the United States since 1994 and regularly attended annual immigration check-ins under a supervised release order, was taken into ICE custody on October 28, 2025, during a routine appointment in Dallas, Texas. His family says he had no criminal record and had acted as his son’s full-time caregiver for decades.
After Maher’s detention, Wael’s already fragile health rapidly declined. According to family members, Wael — who had been diagnosed with Pompe disease as a child and depended entirely on specialized, around-the-clock care — was hospitalized multiple times with serious infections, including sepsis and pneumonia, and complications related to a dislodged feeding tube.
Wael died on January 23, 2026, without his father at his side. The extended family, including Wael’s daughter-in-law Shahd Arnaout, said they believe the absence of Maher’s caregiving contributed directly to Wael’s deterioration. “They may not have killed Wael with a bullet, but they killed him inside by taking the only person he asked for,” Arnaout said in comments reported by People.
The family has publicly called on ICE to release Maher so that he can attend his son’s funeral and grieve with relatives, but a humanitarian release request was denied by the agency late in January. Maher remains in detention at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas.
Pompe disease is a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness and respiratory complications; Wael’s doctors had initially not expected him to live beyond childhood, but with his father’s care he survived into adulthood.
