A former supporter of President Donald Trump says he will forever regret his vote after his brother died in ICE custody.
According to an article by The Mirror, Naseer Paktyawal posted a tearful video, first shared by ABC News, describing the loss of his brother Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal and the guilt he carries over voting for Trump. The two men were inseparable, Paktyawal said, describing his bond.
"We never call each other a brother," Paktyawal, who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan, said. "We call best friends."
His brother served in the U.S. Special Forces in 2005, Afghan community leaders and a refugee group said, but the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE, claimed it had no record of his service, according to the Mirror.
He recounted the arrest outside a Dallas apartment that led to his brother's death. He saw "two cars unmarked. Seven, eight people jump out of those cars," he said. Agents grabbed his brother and put him in handcuffs in front of his family, Paktyawal said.
Later, Paktyawal got a phone call from an ICE facility. He was told that his brother had died and that his body was left in a hospital parking lot.
"That's the thing that I will never forget in my life," he said. Paktyawal's brother had been seeking asylum since 2021 and was the 12th person to die in ICE custody in 2026, according to The Mirror.
Paktyawal voted for Trump after he arrived in the U.S. in 2014, and he blamed the choice for his brother's death, according to The Mirror.
"My first vote was for this president, and I regret it, and I'm gonna regret it for the rest of my life," Paktyawal said. "Because of me, because of my voting, he got arrested, and he lost his life. And I'm never going to forgive myself for that."
Paktyawal said he no longer trusts the Trump administration, saying, "I don't believe this administration."
