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Four days after ICE arrested a Rochester man who is the recipient of a kidney transplant, federal authorities still have not given him the life-saving medications he needs to prevent his body from rejecting the donated kidney, according to the man’s wife. 

The Department of Homeland Security said late Friday that ICE is aware of the man’s recent kidney transplant, that the family gave authorities the medications and that ICE was working to ensure he gets them, but he apparently still has not received them.

Javier Abreu-Vasquez was arrested by immigration agents in Rochester on Friday while he was delivering groceries as part of a local mutual aid group through his church. He was taken without his medications to the Whipple Federal Building near the MSP airport, where he was held until being flown to a federal detention center in Texas Friday.

State Rep. Kim Hicks, DFL-Rochester, said a lawyer for Abreu-Vasquez was told Friday morning that he would need a doctor’s note to be able to access the anti-rejection medication vital to his transplant survival.

Hicks drove to the Twin Cities Thursday night to deliver the medication to Abreu-Vasquez at the Whipple building. After conferring with his attorney Friday morning, she got a letter from his doctor at Mayo Clinic, where the 38-year-old had kidney transplant surgery in July of 2023.

Hicks and Abreu-Vasquez’s family grew quite concerned though, because they hadn’t heard from federal officials as of Friday afternoon — after Abreu-Vasquez was scheduled to be transported by plane to a federal detention center in Texas.

By late Friday afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security put out a statement regarding Abreu-Vasquez’s situation. 

“ICE is aware of his recent kidney transplant, and his family sent the medications and medical documentation. ICE is working with the family to ensure he gets all of his needed medications,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. 

“It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody,” McLaughlin’s statement continued. “This is the best healthcare many aliens have received in their entire lives.”

Abreu-Vasquez’s wife, Carolina Rosario De Abreu, told MPR News Sunday that she talked to him by phone, and he told her he still has not received his medications. She says he needs to take his pills daily to prevent his body from rejecting the donated kidney, and that going without them could be life-threatening.  

Hicks said community members alerted her Thursday that Abreu-Vasquez had been detained after federal agents rammed into his car and broke his car window on Civic Center Drive in Rochester. She said he had been delivering groceries for a mutual aid network through his church when he was detained. 

In the statement, McLaughlin described Abreu-Vasquez as “an illegal alien” from the Dominican Republic.

Hicks, though, said the man has an alien registration number, which people often receive after applying for a green card, receiving a work permit or taking part in immigration court. 

“I don't understand why the federal government is taking Minnesotans who are not criminals, who are part of our communities, and violently ripping them off the streets after running into their cars, and then denying them access to life saving medication,” an exasperated Hicks said Friday morning.

“For what purpose? What is the end goal here?” she said. “This is not the worst of the worst.”

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The wife of a kidney transplant recipient tells MPR News that four days after his arrest, the man still has not received the medications he needs to keep his body from rejecting the kidney. 

DFL State Rep. Kim Hicks said she’s been concerned the man would not have access to his medication and might die without it. A Homeland Security spokesperson said later in the afternoon that ICE is working with the family to ensure he gets all of his needed medications.

DHS: Kidney recipient arrested by federal agents in Rochester now has access to needed medications

downtown scene with tall buildings and a river

Kidney recipient arrested by ICE in Rochester last week still isn't getting needed medications

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