Belarusian Asylum-Seeker Held in Kansas ICE Detention Lacks Cancer Medication

Katsiaryna Bartko, a 33-year-old Belarusian asylum-seeker, has been held in ICE detention in Kansas for over 12 weeks without adequate access to life-sustaining thyroid medication. Her thyroid-stimulating hormone level reached 148.77 mIU/L on August 11, about 30 times the upper limit of normal, according to medical tests. On Friday, her attorneys asked a federal court in Kansas to order her release for supervised medical treatment while her immigration case is pending.

Why Bartko was detained and what happened next

Bartko entered the U.S. on a student visa in March 2022 to escape political persecution in Belarus. She had publicly opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and participated in protests. She applied for asylum in February 2023 after her student status was terminated in March 2023. ICE arrested her in Florida in June 2026 on a domestic battery charge related to a disturbance at a party. Local charges were dropped by both the Miami-Dade County judge and prosecutor. ICE detained her anyway and transferred her to a detention center in Leavenworth, Kansas on June 18, 2026.

The medical crisis inside detention

Bartko survived thyroid cancer as a young person and requires daily hormone medication and calcium supplements to survive. According to her partner, Dmitry Shyshov, she did not receive necessary medication after being detained in Florida and was hospitalized three times in four days. Tests on August 11 showed her thyroid-stimulating hormone level at 148.77 mIU/L. Sarah Raza, a physician with Physicians for Human Rights, said the level indicated severe hypothyroidism and increased risk of myxedema coma, which can be fatal. She has not been examined by an endocrinologist since arriving in Kansas.

ICE and CoreCivic dispute the allegations

ICE and CoreCivic, the private company operating the detention center, said Bartko was under constant medical supervision and receiving necessary care. ICE stated in a statement that local law enforcement arrested Bartko for battery domestic violence and that ICE lodged an immigration detainer on May 6, 2026. The agency characterized her as a criminal illegal alien. Shyshov said he spent nights near the detention facility out of concern for her health.

Broader detention policy shifts in federal courts

Bartko’s case emerges as federal courts continue to clash over immigration detention policies. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 30 that a Trump administration policy denying bond hearings to most people who entered without inspection oversteps federal law. Four other appeals courts had already rejected the same policy. However, the Fifth Circuit and Eighth Circuit still back the government position. ICE transferred roughly 360 detainees from Tacoma, Washington last week, with over 200 sent to El Paso and Kansas City, where bond restrictions remain in effect under those circuits’ rulings.

Final Thoughts

Bartko’s detention raises urgent questions about medical care standards in ICE facilities and the intersection of asylum law with detention policy. Her case will test whether courts will intervene to protect detainees with serious medical conditions pending immigration proceedings.

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