Wael Tarabishi, a 30-year-old man with a rare genetic disease who relied entirely on his father for daily survival, died after ICE detained his caregiver father during a routine check-in three months earlier.

His father, Maher Tarabishi, 62, wasn’t there to hold his hand. He was locked up at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, about 200 miles away, because immigration officers grabbed him in October while he was literally doing what the government told him to do: showing up for a check-in.

THE DETAILS: Maher is a Jordanian national who’s lived in the United States since 1994. He applied for asylum, was permitted to stay, paid taxes, attended every immigration appointment, and has no criminal record. None of that mattered.

When ICE arrested him, they didn’t just take a man—they ripped away the only person who knew how to keep his severely disabled son alive. Wael had Pompe disease, a condition that causes progressive muscle weakness, organ enlargement, and breathing difficulties. Doctors told the family he wouldn’t live past 10. His father, an electrical engineer, developed an “exhaustive knowledge” of the condition and became his son’s arms, legs, lungs, and voice.

Three weeks after Maher’s detention, Wael was rushed to the emergency room with life-threatening sepsis and pneumonia. On December 24, he was admitted to Methodist Mansfield Medical Center after his feeding tube was displaced, causing his stomach to leak. He never recovered.

BUT BUT BUT: The Department of Homeland Security claims Maher is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization—the internationally recognized representative of Palestinians—which his family flatly denies. DHS says his arrest is part of an effort to “restore common sense to our immigration system” and “strengthen national security.”

Common sense. A 62-year-old man with no criminal record who faithfully attended every check-in, whose son needed him to literally breathe, detained indefinitely while that son dies alone. That’s “common sense” in Trump’s America.

WHY IT MATTERS: Before his father was taken, Wael released a statement: “He has never left my side. Without him, I am nothing. Without him, I cannot survive. He is my arms, my legs, my lungs, my voice when I cannot speak.”

He was right. He didn’t survive.

The family is now begging ICE to release Maher so he can attend his son’s funeral—a funeral for the child he spent three decades keeping alive through sheer determination and love.

“It would be beyond inhumane and grotesque for ICE to prevent Maher from attending his son’s funeral after the unspeakable pain and hardship his abduction has brought upon his family,” the family said in a statement, calling it his “human right” to mourn with them.

BOTTOM LINE: This is what immigration enforcement looks like when cruelty is the point. A father who followed every rule, who dedicated his life to keeping his disabled son alive, was snatched away for no discernible public safety reason—and his son paid the ultimate price. Wael Tarabishi’s funeral is Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Dar El-Eman Islamic Center in Arlington. Whether his father will be allowed to say goodbye remains uncertain.