Lothirath, 57, was taken by ICE amid the agency’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Federal agents detained him in his home—located a block from where ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by an ICE agent—on Jan. 6, a day before Renee Good was shot and killed, also by a federal agent.

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ICE agreed to fly the refugee back to the Twin Cities 10 days after his detainment, during which he missed two rounds of chemotherapy, after Vilay presented a letter to authorities from M Health Fairview explaining that Lothirath would quickly “succumb” to the cancer if he did not get the proper treatment.

“Shockingly enough, they let him out, but I think it’s because they knew if he stayed, he would have died in their custody,” Vilay told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

After his detention, Lothirath was so weak that it took him a couple of days to be cleared to travel. When he got home, he was immediately hospitalized, leading him to miss two more chemotherapy sessions. Eventually, his cancer spread to the bone marrow, causing him to enter hospice care.