ICE Refused to Give a North Carolina Pastor His Stroke Medication for 16 Days, He is Now Paralyzed on One Side of His Body

Gabriel Johnson, 55, came to the United States from Liberia at 15 and has lived here legally ever since, though he never became a citizen. On the morning of July 15, ICE agents came to his family’s home in Cary and took him. His daughter Gabri, 30, picked up the phone to her mother saying, “Don’t panic. ICE just came to the house and took your pa.” TheGrio’s Kay Wicker first reported the family’s account.

The family was first told it was a misunderstanding over a missed immigration appointment. They were later told officials were pursuing his removal under a broader change in federal immigration policy. He had been granted withholding of removal, which barred his deportation to Liberia.

Johnson has high blood pressure and a history of minor strokes going back to 2020. He spent roughly two weeks at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, where his family says he kept telling them he was not getting his medication, food or water. “For 16 days they have refused to give him food and water consistently,” Gabri said. “He has begged for his stroke medication.”

ICE moved him to Prairieland Detention Center in Texas while his attorneys were still seeking a stay of removal. On July 30, the morning he was expected to be flown out of the country, he had a stroke.

“Like he’s been telling them, give me my medication, give me food, give me water,” Gabri said in the video she posted that night. “They laughed at him. They refused.”

A nurse at the Texas hospital called so father and daughter could speak. ICE agents would not let her hand him the phone, the family says, because he might reveal his room location.

Their emergency stay of removal, asking for three to six months so he could stabilize, was denied. Rep. Valerie Foushee says her office is “actively working to have him released from ICE custody.”

ICE has described Johnson as a Liberian national targeted in an enforcement operation and has not answered questions about why he was denied his medication. The Department of Homeland Security says he requested visitation.

His family says they had to trace his phone to find him in a Texas hospital. They flew there, waited hours, and were given exactly one hour with him.

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