What happened

Oudone Lothirath came to the United States as a child refugee from Laos in the early 1980s. Decades later, at 57, he was fighting terminal Hodgkin’s lymphoma and had been on life-sustaining chemotherapy for nearly two years. In January, while he was supposed to be receiving treatments that were keeping him stable, immigration agents detained him in a sweep in Minneapolis. The family says the detention interrupted his cancer care and that he is now on his deathbed in hospice.

His friend and care assistant, Christina Vilay, told family and medical contacts that his condition deteriorated after he missed chemotherapy sessions. "He was responding quite well to the chemo," Vilay said. "He probably had another good year."

The detention and the missed treatments

  • Lothirath was taken from his home in Minneapolis in early January during a large immigration enforcement action in the state. This happened the day before an ICE officer shot Renee Good and less than two weeks before federal agents killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti; Lothirath lived very close to both scenes.
  • He was transported more than 1,300 miles to a detention center in El Paso, Texas, and spent about 10 days in custody. Family members say he mostly slept on an uncomfortable bunk bed inside a large tent with roughly 60 other detainees.
  • While in detention, the family says he did not receive the medical care he needed and missed two scheduled chemotherapy sessions.
  • After he was released and flown back to Minnesota, he was so weak he was hospitalized immediately and missed two more sessions. Vilay says a later hospitalization and severe illness cost him an additional scheduled treatment.

The overall result: multiple interrupted rounds of chemotherapy at a critical point in his care. Vilay and the oncology team believe those missed doses allowed the cancer to advance into his bone marrow.

His health before and after detention

Lothirath had been receiving chemotherapy that was extending his life and allowing him to live fairly normally when side effects were manageable. He also needed insulin for diabetes and took medication for a heart condition. According to Vilay, the cancer began spreading after the missed treatments and has now moved into his bone marrow.

After release from ICE, Lothirath was hospitalized immediately and later transferred to hospice. He is described as too weak to speak; friends and family are caring for him in Minneapolis during his final days.

How he was released

Vilay says she contacted his doctors and urged them to write directly to the detention warden, explaining the urgency of his medical needs. That intervention led to his release and return to Minnesota. The Department of Homeland Security did not provide a comment when asked about the case.

A life that began as a refugee story

Lothirath’s family were part of the wave of refugees who fled Laos after the country fell to a communist government in the mid-1970s. They spent time in a refugee camp in Thailand before being admitted to the United States in the early 1980s and settled in Minnesota, a state with one of the larger Lao communities in the country.

Shortly after arriving in the U.S., his father died of cancer, leaving the family to rebuild with limited English and few resources. Friends describe Oudone as someone who worked steadily where he could, never married, and did not have children.

Legal history and immigration status

When he was 22, Lothirath was convicted of aiding and abetting in a drive-by shooting after driving friends who fired a gun from a car. He served six months in county jail. That conviction prevented him from taking the path to naturalized citizenship and required him to check in regularly with immigration authorities. Records reviewed by his supporters show he had a work authorization card issued in 2023.

Final care, wishes, and community support

Vilay and her husband have been caring for Lothirath at their Minneapolis home during his last days. They held a Buddhist Baci ceremony to offer final blessings and help him move on according to tradition. Lothirath requested to be cremated and to have his ashes interred with his late father.

Vilay launched a fundraiser to help with funeral and medical expenses. She says the decision to care for him at home felt natural after years of supporting him through his illness.

What his friends want people to know

Those close to Lothirath say he valued the life he built here despite hardships and mistakes in his past. Vilay summed it up: he appreciated the opportunities and relationships he had in the United States and wanted a peaceful end surrounded by community.

This case raises questions about how medical needs are handled during immigration enforcement actions and the consequences when treatment is interrupted for people with serious illnesses.