A North Carolina family is demanding answers for 55-year-old pastor Gabriel Johnson, a Liberian immigrant who is being held in an immigration detention center while facing serious health issues. The family said Johnson had a stroke while he was held in ICE custody and he has been moved to multiple facilities since he was taken from his home in Cary, North Carolina on July 15, NewsNation reported.
What happened to North Carolina pastor Gabriel Johnson?
Johnson, who has been living in the U.S. legally since the age of 15, is being held in Texas after being transferred to several facilities. The family said some family members were able to visit him in Texas, but it was difficult to find their loved one after he was hospitalized. Johnson spent two weeks at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia before being taken to Alvarado, Texas.
Johnson, according to the family, had experienced other strokes before he had the latest scare on July 30 at the Alvarado detention center. They also said he has a history of high blood pressure, but he was not getting the proper treatment while being held in ICE custody.
According to NBC News, Johnson’s daughter Gabri said he was not consistently getting his medicines at the detention center. He was also not getting enough food and water, Gabri told NBC News. According to the family, Johnson is now paralyzed on the left side of his body after he had a stroke at the facility.
“I got a call from the hospital in Texas today saying that my father was rushed there after having a stroke,” Gabri said in an Instagram video posted on Thursday. “Like he’s been telling them, give me my medication, give me food, give me water. They laughed at him. They refused. My father had a stroke and the left side of his body is completely paralyzed right now. ICE is fully responsible for this.”
The North Carolina man is an ordained pastor who lived in the country legally for decades, but never became a citizen, The Grio reported. Johnson is a graduate of North Carolina Central University, his family said.
What’s next for Gabriel Johnson?
While aiming to bring him home, Johnson’s family is also aiming to make sure he gets his medicine at the facility.
“We’ve been trying to do it the right way through even conceding and thinking that we could maybe move to Africa and just make the best out of that and make it a beautiful life,” Gabri said, per The Grio. “But now that his health care rights and his human rights have been impeded beyond, and we have to fight to get him treatment to not be permanently disabled, hopefully, or to get him a standard of living within his home that he’s familiar with to adjust to this. Like we have to. This is the new plan.”