An Arlington family is devastated after burying their loved one, who never got to say goodbye to his dad. Wael Tarabishi had been pleading with ICE to release his 62-year-old father, Maher Tarabishi, on humanitarian grounds so that Maher could care for him. Wael was diagnosed with a rare dise ase as a child and since then, said sister-in-law Shahd Arnout, Maher had stepped up as the primary caretaker. Wael Tarabishi was diagnosed with Pompe disease as a child. (Photo courtesy: IG: @FreeMaherTarabishi) “My mother-in-law fought cancer twice,” Arnout said. She said that, combined with the over 30 surgeries that put metal plates in Wael’s body, meant it was difficult for Wael’s mom to care for him. “It’s details; it’s that he needs suction, that he needs medication, that he needs cough assist…” Arnout said. She said Maher took meticulous care of his son for 30 years, even sleeping at the foot of his son’s bed, and able to notice even a change in his breathing pattern. “Doctors said he’s not going to make it to 5 or 10. It’s not coincidence that he made it to 30 years old,” she said. She said Wael’s dad wasn’t just his strength, he was also his safe place. “He wasn’t just a dad. It was more; he was more like a best friend. He was more like the hope for Wael that he wanted to wake up for the next day. Even Wael himself said that,” Arnout said. She said after ICE detained Maher in October, everything changed. He was rushed to the hospital twice within weeks. “Five of us. We couldn’t do what Maher was doing. We tried. We tried,” she said. In previous statements to NBC 5, DHS and ICE accused Maher of having ties to terrorism. “Maher Mohd Tarabishi, 62, a criminal alien and self-admitted member of the Palestine Liberation Organization—a murderous foreign terrorist organization that has carried out countless terrorist attacks and plane hijackings—was arrested by ICE officers Oct. 28 in Dallas, Texas,” the statement read. The Palestine Liberation Organization is the official representative of Palestinians internationally. ICE also stated: “Shockingly, Tarabishi has been permitted to remain in the U.S. illegally for nearly two decades despite being ordered removed from the U.S. by both an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Obama administration unconscionably went as far as to proactively file a joint motion to dismiss the immigration case against Tarabishi on Aug. 10, 2011, although he had admitted to being a member of a foreign terrorist organization and was already ordered removed. “ICE’s successful arrest of Tarabishi shows clear evidence of the game-changing impact the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts are having to restore common sense to our immigration system, strengthen national security and public safety in our country by arresting terrorists like this where prior administrations recklessly gambled with the safety of all Americans by allowing foreign terrorists, transnational gang members and other violent criminal aliens to remain in the U.S.” Maher and Wael never saw each other again and Wael died on January 23. “We’re talking about 30 years of care and love,” said Arnout, who broke the news with her husband to Maher over the phone. “He did not believe me or my husband. He keep saying, ‘No, you’re lying. No, you’re lying.’ Because Wael promised him that, ‘I will wait for you.’ It was like a joke between them, ‘I will wait for you, I’m not going to die.’” Maher Tarabishi and his son, Wael. (Courtesy: IG: @FreeMaherTarabishi) Arnout said the family believes Wael would still be alive if Maher was with him. “Hundred percent. And I will say it: ICE is responsible of the death of Wael,” she said. She also said ICE denied their request to let Maher attend his son’s funeral. “You’re talking about a piece of your heart. That’s your child,” Arnout said. “He’s alone. He had to go through all of that alone.” She said she still has a promise to keep to her brother-in-law. “Just before he went to his second surgery, I looked at him in the eyes and I told him, ‘It’s not your day, yet.,’” said Arnout, crying. “I need you to promise me that you will get out and we’re going to keep fighting. Together. Me and you.” “I do have the freedom of speech, so I’m going to use it. I’m going to use it to tell everyone that Wael’s story will never be dead. And Maher needs to be out,” she added. And after months without him, she hopes Wael can find his hero, again. “I know he’s in a better place,” Arnout said. “And maybe he can see his father. His soul. I’m very sure. Maybe he couldn’t wait until he’s out. He wanted to meet him that fast. I don’t know if that makes sense. But I keep giving myself excuses why Wael is dead.” The family has set up a Go Fund Me page for “unexpected and overwhelming financial expenses, including emergency medical costs, lost income, and basic living needs.” Arnout said she has a larger message for ICE, too. “Enough is enough. How many families need to be taken away from each other and tearing apart? How many people need to be killed?” she said. “How about the other families that they don’t know where there loved one is? What about the other family that they don’t have nobody to talk for them?” ICE has not yet responded to NBC 5’s request for an updated comment to this story. ...read more read less