A kidney transplant recipient who spent two weeks in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas without full access to his life-saving medications is finally back home in Minnesota. Javier Abreu-Vasquez arrived at the Rochester International Airport Thursday, Feb. 19 and was reunited with his family.

Abreu-Vasquez was arrested by immigration agents on Feb. 5 in Rochester while he was delivering groceries as part of a local mutual aid group organized through his church. He was taken without his medications to the Whipple Federal Building near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport that day and flown to the ICE detention facility in El Paso the next day.

His family helped deliver medications to the facility, but Abreu-Vasquez’s wife and attorney said he did not receive his full medication regimen while in custody.

Abreu-Vasquez is from the Dominican Republic and entered the United States legally on a visa, according to his attorney, and he had been working through the process to remain in the country legally when that visa expired.

Now that Abreu-Vasquez is back in Minnesota, his attorney said they can begin to figure out together how to complete the process for him to become a legal U.S. resident and prevent his deportation. He also said Mayo Clinic will be expecting a very prompt follow up visit with its patient to stabilize his condition.

Story by Molly Castle Work
Video captured by Molly Castle Work and Ken Klotzbach for MPR News
Thumbnail by Ken Klotzbach for MPR News
Video edited by Anne Guttridge