As the weeks tick by, Ihsanullah Garay’s health is deteriorating inside a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention cell.
The 38-year-old asylum seeker and Afghan national has been battling stage II brain cancer, according to his cousin and lawyer, and was detained last month in eastern Massachusetts by federal agents after a chance encounter revealed he had an expired student visa.
Garay fell ill a couple years ago, following his doctoral studies in New York, and last winter, he moved to Lowell to be closer to his only local family member and his radiation therapy appointments at Boston Medical. Center.
But to afford his medical bills and ensure he could attend doctors’ appointments, Garay needed flexible work. He started delivering food for apps like Grubhub and DoorDash.
His lawyer, Hans Bremer, told WBUR that Garay got lost while out on a delivery in Methuen on Sept. 14 and stopped to ask someone he thought was a police officer for directions. Bremer said the man turned out to be an ICE agent.
Garay, whose student visa expired in 2021 according to ICE, was arrested immediately. But, according to Bremer, Garay has legal permission to work in the US through 2029, up-to-date paperwork and no criminal record. He has also applied for political asylum, Bremer said, citing threats from the Taliban.
“He has an exceptionally strong asylum claim,” Bremer said. “He’s doing everything correctly that we have always required for somebody who wants to seek asylum.”
Bremer said he “had every belief” Garay would be released from ICE custody at a bond hearing scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 16, in Chelmsford immigration court. However, Bremer said ICE transferred Garay to a facility in Georgia unexpectedly, and the hearing was canceled.
It “baffles” Bremer that Garay was detained at all, but he said that what’s more striking is that the federal government has kept someone so sick in detention.
Robin Nice, former chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association of New England, said Garay’s case reflects how the Trump administration’s immigration agenda has reshaped detention policies.
In recent months, the federal government has adopted new rules that allows agents to repeatedly relocate detainees and make it harder to get out on bond.
“Where’s the accountability?” Nice said. “Who’s to say they can’t transfer someone to like five different detention centers and effectively make (posting bond) impossible?”
She argued that the government can simply move detainees into jurisdictions with stricter bond standards.
“It’s the government’s burden (in Massachusetts) to show that someone is a flight risk or a danger to the community, but in other jurisdictions, that’s not the case,” she said.
Boston ICE spokesperson James Covington said Garay will remain detained until his hearing’s outcome but did not answer questions about his medical treatment or transfer. Under ICE’s own policy, the agency has 48 hours to reschedule a canceled bond hearing. As of Thursday afternoon, it was not clear when his next hearing would take place.
When Garay entered ICE custody, he was well enough to stand. But he now uses a wheelchair, according to his lawyer.
“He is not a flight risk. He’s not a danger,” Bremer said. “There’s no reason for him to be held.”
Outside the immigration system, Garay’s cousin, Abdul Ahad Storay Niazi, has been left trying to keep track of Garay’s detention and worrying about how he is being treated.
Storay said his cousin had major brain surgery in 2022 and often suffers from seizures.
A medical document sent to immigration officials and shared with WBUR shows Garay’s doctors say he must return in the coming months to Boston Medical Center for blood tests and scans to treat and monitor his cancer.
Storay said he hasn’t heard from Garay since Saturday, a few days before he was moved down South.
“He said, ‘I have a seizure attack every day, almost every day,’” Storay recalled, “‘so please help me.’ “
This article was originally published on October 16, 2025.
This segment aired on October 16, 2025.
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