Wale Tarabishi’s family had hoped his father and primary carer would be present to bid the 30-year-old a final farewell at his funeral on Thursday.
But Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials denied the family’s request to temporarily release her father, Maher Tarabishi, to serve in Joshua, Texas, the family’s attorney said in a statement.
After suffering from a serious and rare genetic disorder called Pompe’s disease, which causes muscle weakness and heart problems, the family is now preparing for a private funeral for the man who died last Friday.
“We are deeply disappointed by ICE’s decision to deny Maher Tarabishi the opportunity to say a final farewell to his beloved son, Wale,” attorney Ali Elhor said in a statement Tuesday. “Today’s decision to prevent him from saying goodbye is a reflection of the tragic lack of humanity on the part of those responsible.”
In a separate statement, family members said barring Maher from burying his son “will only deepen the wounds left by the agony of the past few months.”
ICE’s decision comes three months after Maher was detained during a routine immigration check-in in Dallas. Since then, his family has held a news conference and publicly pleaded with federal immigration officials to temporarily release him from the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas.
At first, they hoped Maher could be released to provide the 24-hour specialized care for Well that only he was trained to do. But in Well’s final days, they hoped Maher could at least say goodbye to his son in person.
On Tuesday, a day before Weil’s funeral was originally planned, Elhor said he had discussed the logistics of the funeral and ICE’s terms with immigration officials “who appeared willing to facilitate Maher’s supervised release” to allow Maher’s presence, but ultimately, declined to do so.
Maher Tarabis, left, is pictured with his late son Wael Tarabis, right. – @FreemaHertaraBish/Instagram
ICE detention standards allow detainees to “maintain relationships with their families through occasional staff-escorted trips to the community to visit terminally ill immediate family members or attend their funerals.”
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the decision.
Her health deteriorated without her father’s care
Weil’s sister-in-law, Shahad Arnout, told CNN that the family was struggling to care for Weil with his father in ICE custody.
Maher was the one who helped Vail bathe, change clothes and administer food and medication through a tube, Arnout said.
“He knew, when he had a fever, what to give him,” Arnout told CNN. “We had to ask several doctors to come and ask what (medication) to give Val because Maher wasn’t there to respond quickly.”
At a press conference in December, a statement from Weil was read aloud in which he described his relationship with his father.
“He’s the one who keeps me alive when I’m at my weakest,” Weill said in a statement, CNN affiliate WFAA reported. “Without him, I am nothing; without him, I cannot live.”
Maher Tarabish stands behind his late son Wael Tarabish in an unidentified photo provided by their family. – @FreemaHertaraBish/Instagram
In the weeks following Maher’s detention, Arnout said Weil’s health declined significantly as he developed life-threatening health complications.
He was hospitalized twice: once in November with sepsis and pneumonia, and again in December with a stomach infection caused by a dislodged feeding tube, his family said in a statement. He remained in the ICU at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center in the suburbs of Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area for the next month, the family said. He died on 23 January.
In the hours before his death, Vale’s wish was to see his father again. On the day he died, Elhor went to meet with an ICE official to ask if Maher could come to the hospital to see his son, the family said in a statement. That request was denied, they said.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to questions about why the family had requested his temporary release on two separate occasions and was denied.
“It’s unbelievable,” Arnout said. “Our lives have been turned upside down.”
A father’s trip to America
Maher came to the United States in 1994 from Kuwait, where he was living at the time, on a tourist visa, fleeing violence, Arnout said. Several family members were already living in the United States, she said. Maher is a native of Jordan.
For several years, he made a living as an IT engineer but stopped working in 2019 to take care of his son full-time, Arnout said.
He was arrested in October during a scheduled check-in at an ICE facility in Dallas, his family and their attorney said.
McLaughlin, a DHS spokesman, said in a statement to CNN that he had been allowed to stay in the U.S. illegally for nearly 20 years despite being ordered to leave by an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals.
An immigration court ordered Maher removed in 2006, but he was allowed to stay in the U.S. because he was his son’s caregiver and was required to attend an annual check-in with ICE, Elhor said. It is unclear how soon he could be deported to Jordan, Elhor said.
Last week, Elhor said he filed a motion to reopen Maher’s case after discovering the ‘lawyer’ who filed Maher’s original asylum application was practicing law without a license.
CNN was unable to obtain documents about Maher’s removal order, the dismissal of the case and the terms outlining his stay in the US.
Maher Tarabishi, right, arrived in the United States in 1994. He was the primary caregiver for his son Val Tarabishi throughout his life. – @freemahertarabishi/Instagram
In his statement, McLaughlin referred to Maher as a “self-acclaimed member” of the Palestine Liberation Organization, also known as the PLO, a political umbrella body recognized by the United Nations and the Arab League since 1974 as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people.
In August, the Trump administration announced that it had “denied and revoked visas” from members of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, accusing them of taking actions that “materially contributed to denying Hamas the release of its hostages and disrupting the Gaza ceasefire talks”.
Arnout said the family denies Maher was part of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Maher has always followed the proper guidelines for staying in the U.S. and has made every required check-in with immigration officials, Arnout said.
The family has spoken to Maher since he was in ICE custody, but it’s been challenging because they often have to wait to get access to a phone and call them, Arnout said.
“He’s not doing well,” she said. “He wants to get out as soon as possible.”
Arnout believes Maher’s absence took a toll on Weill, causing his health to decline.
“Mentally, he started to recognize, ‘I don’t feel safe anymore,'” Arnout said of his brother-in-law. “A person who makes me feel safe and gives me hope that I’ll live another day and makes me feel like I’m a normal person that I’m not.”
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