A terminally ill migrant is on his deathbed after missing vital chemotherapy treatments while in federal immigration custody, his family has claimed.
Oudone Lothirath, 57, had been undergoing treatment for advanced Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a January enforcement surge in Minnesota.
Just weeks earlier, he had been told to return for a routine immigration check-in months later but was instead unexpectedly detained and held for 10 days.
He was then transferred more than 1,300 miles to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, where his loved ones say his treatment was interrupted.
Now back in Minneapolis, Lothirath is receiving hospice care and is too sick to speak. His prognosis is believed to be six to nine months, according to Vilay.
'He was responding quite well to the chemo,' his friend and caregiver Christina Vilay, whom he met at a Buddhist temple, told the Independent. 'He probably had another good year.'
Vilay said he missed multiple chemotherapy sessions while in custody and was too weak to resume treatment after his release, with the cancer now spread to his bone marrow.
Lothirath, who also requires insulin for diabetes and medication for a heart condition, including a cardiac defibrillator, did not receive medical care while detained, according to Vilay.
Oudone Lothirath, a 57-year-old Laotian refugee, is on his deathbed after missing critical chemotherapy treatments while in federal immigration custody, according to his caregiver
Lothirath was undergoing treatment for advanced Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was detained by ICE in Minnesota and held for 10 days before being transferred to a facility in El Paso, Texas
He was held in a large tent facility with around 60 other detainees and spent most of his time sleeping as his health deteriorated.
Lothirath was later released and flown back to Minnesota after his medical team intervened, Vilay said, but his condition had already declined.
He was hospitalized shortly after, suffering from severe anemia, dangerously high blood sugar and sepsis, and went on to miss further rounds of chemotherapy as he was too weak to receive them, she added in a GoFundMe description.
Vilay also said he was released without his personal belongings, including his phone and identification, which she described as essential for accessing medical care and transportation.
According to the fundraiser, Lothirath now faces the ongoing threat of deportation and does not currently have legal representation.
Vilay said he fears returning home amid heightened immigration enforcement, noting his apartment is just a block from where Alex Pretti, 37, was fatally shot by federal agents earlier this year.
The killing was one of two fatal incidents in Minneapolis in January, along with the death of Renee Good, that sparked protests and heightened tensions over immigration enforcement in the city.
Vilay claimed immigration officers gained access to his building by posing as an Amazon delivery before detaining him.
Lothirath arrived in the United States as a child in the early 1980s after his family fled Laos following the communist takeover. They later settled in Minnesota, which has one of the largest Laotian populations in the country.
His immigration status remained unresolved after a criminal conviction in his early twenties.
At 22, he was convicted for his role in a drive-by shooting after one of his passengers fired a gun from the vehicle. He served six months in jail and was required to regularly check in with immigration authorities.
Despite that, Vilay said he had spent years trying to live a normal life while managing his illness.
'As long as he didn't get side effects, he could go to temple, go to the store and live at home by himself,' she said.
Vilay and her husband have since taken him into their home, as his only close family nearby, his mother, is also seriously ill and unable to care for him.
Last week, she and her family held a traditional Baci ceremony to offer final blessings.
Lothirath has said he wishes to be cremated, with his ashes placed alongside his late father.
A GoFundMe has since been launched, according to Vilay, to help cover his medical care, transportation, legal costs and funeral expenses.
'I know he's appreciative of the life that he's had here, the kind of the freedom...the friends,the family...just everything that he's been able to do,' Vilay said. 'It was not a life,living in a camp.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.