Terminal cancer patient detained far from home, misses critical chemotherapy

Oudone Lothirath, who has terminal Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was detained in a federal immigration detention facility in early January, according to multiple reports. The facility is located in El Paso, Texas, more than 1,300 miles away from Minneapolis, where he resides. While in detention, Lothirath missed two chemotherapy sessions, a friend and care assistant confirmed.

According to The Independent - World, Christina Vilay described that he was responding quite well to the chemo and probably had another good year before the detention. Lothirath's health has since worsened significantly; he is now on his deathbed and receiving hospice care, multiple reports indicate. He was too sick for a fourth chemotherapy session and was hospitalized for eight days, missing a fifth session, according to The Independent - World, where Vilay described the decline.

Additionally, Lothirath requires insulin for diabetes and medication for a heart condition, sources said. According to The Independent - World, Vilay noted that the cancer grew into his bone marrow, and he had been on life-sustaining chemo for almost two years, which had been a wonder, allowing him to go to temple and live independently as long as he avoided side effects. Lothirath arrived in the United States as a Laotian refugee in the early 1980s, according to multiple reports.

He was caught up in the Trump administration’s immigration surge in Minnesota in early January, sources said. ICE agents swarmed his Minneapolis home the day before Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE officer, and he lived one block away from the street where ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents less than two weeks later, reports indicate. It remains unclear why Lothirath was detained by ICE despite his terminal illness, what specific medical care was provided during detention, and how many total chemotherapy sessions he missed, with the exact impact on his prognosis unknown.