A 76-year-old lawful permanent resident with stage 4 prostate cancer has missed two oncology appointments while held in immigration detention near Tacoma, Washington, and an immigration judge's decision to extend his case means he is expected to miss a third.
Loreto Javar has been held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center since June 23, when federal officers took him into custody during his U.S. citizenship interview in Tukwila. He has lived in the United States since 1995 and worked for years in the hotel industry in Fife. His daughter, Daisy Javar, told Newsweek that he also has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
For families managing a relative's cancer treatment, this case makes a point that is easy to miss from the outside. Advanced cancer care is not a series of optional visits. It is a schedule of bloodwork and dose adjustment, and the appointments are the mechanism by which the disease is kept in check.
Detained at a Citizenship Interview in June
Javar was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in January and had been receiving care at Salish Cancer Center, according to reporting from The Seattle Times. He is prescribed two oral medications for the cancer, along with medications for other conditions including high blood pressure.
Federal officials allege he failed to disclose a decades-old conviction in the Philippines when he applied for a U.S. visa in 1995. Court documents cited by the Seattle Times indicate officials allege involvement in a 1970s altercation that left one person dead, and Javar told officers at his arrest that he served roughly three years in jail there before parole. ICE spokesperson Jason Chudy told the paper that the omission would have made Javar ineligible at the time of his original application. "He is therefore ineligible to remain in the United States now," Chudy said. His family says he has no criminal history in the United States. These are allegations in an active immigration case, not findings.
At a hearing on Aug. 31, an immigration judge granted an extension pushing his case to Sept. 20. Moe Cinco, an organizer with the Tanggol Migrante Movement, which is campaigning for his release, told Newsweek that the extension means Javar will miss a third oncology appointment, and that the next one falls on Sept. 4. "He's been languishing in the detention center and separated from his cancer treatment," Cinco said. The group has also petitioned the Philippine consulate in Seattle to intervene.
Advanced Prostate Cancer Runs on a Schedule
Stage 4 prostate cancer means the disease has spread beyond the prostate. It is generally treated as a chronic condition managed indefinitely rather than cured, most often with hormonal therapy taken as daily oral medication, sometimes alongside other agents.
Those regular visits do specific work. Bloodwork tracks prostate-specific antigen, which signals whether the current regimen is still controlling the disease. Testosterone levels confirm the hormonal therapy is achieving its target. Liver and kidney panels catch drug toxicity before it becomes dangerous. Based on those numbers, an oncologist adjusts the dose or switches the regimen.
Skipping that monitoring does not stop the medication from working on its own, but it removes the ability to detect when it stops working. Prostate cancer that becomes resistant to a given hormonal therapy typically announces itself first as a rising PSA, months before a person feels different. Catching that shift is the entire reason for the appointment cadence.
Older adults carry additional exposure. Javar is 76 and has COPD alongside his cancer. Blood clots are a recognized complication of advanced cancer, and prolonged immobility raises that risk further.
Timing Matters for Pills Taken with Food
Javar's daughter told the Seattle Times that meals in detention often arrive hours late, with lunch sometimes served at 6 p.m. and dinner at midnight, which she said makes taking his cancer medication properly difficult. She told Newsweek that the medications themselves have so far been delivered on schedule. That distinction is more specific than it may sound.
Several oral cancer therapies have explicit food requirements written into their labeling. Some must be taken with a meal because absorption drops substantially on an empty stomach. Others require fasting because food raises blood levels into a toxic range. When meal times move unpredictably, a patient taking one of those drugs can end up underdosing or overdosing without any way to know.
This is where a detention setting differs from a hospital. In a hospital, medication administration is timed against meals by design. In a facility where meal delivery is unpredictable, that timing collapses.
The broader pattern has been documented. Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch reported in June that the mortality rate in ICE custody rose at a rate disproportionate to the growth in the detained population, and attributed the pattern in part to substandard health infrastructure and delayed medical care. ICE has consistently said comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and that no one in custody is denied emergency care.
A Hearing Date That Falls After the Next Appointment
Advocates say they are working to secure his release before the next scheduled oncology visit. His immigration hearing is set for Sept. 20.
Families in a similar position, whether the interruption comes from detention, incarceration, hospitalization elsewhere, or an insurance lapse, have a few practical options. Ask the treating oncology practice to document in writing what the missed monitoring means clinically, since that record carries weight with courts and facility medical staff in a way that a family's account does not. Ask whether the medication itself can be continued uninterrupted even when monitoring visits cannot happen, because continuity of the drug and continuity of the labs are separate problems. Request that records be transferred to whatever medical unit currently has custody of the patient.
Nobody should stop or change a prescribed cancer medication without speaking to the treating clinician. Anyone with advanced cancer who develops leg swelling, sudden shortness of breath, chest pain, or new severe abdominal pain should be evaluated urgently, because those can signal a clot.
Key Questions Answered
What happened? Loreto Javar, a 76-year-old green card holder with stage 4 prostate cancer, was detained at his U.S. citizenship interview on June 23 and has been held near Tacoma since.
How many appointments has he missed? His family and advocates say two, with a third expected after an immigration judge extended his case to Sept. 20.
Why do missed oncology appointments matter? Bloodwork at those visits detects when a hormonal therapy stops controlling the disease, usually months before a patient notices symptoms.
When is his next scheduled appointment? Advocates say it falls on Sept. 4, more than two weeks before his next immigration hearing.
What does ICE say? An ICE spokesperson told the Seattle Times that Javar is ineligible to remain in the country because of the undisclosed conviction. The agency's standing position is that comprehensive medical care is provided from arrival onward.
Why does meal timing matter for cancer medication? Some oral cancer drugs must be taken with food and others on an empty stomach, because absorption changes substantially either way.
What can families in similar situations do? Ask the oncology practice to document the clinical consequence of missed monitoring in writing, ask whether the medication can continue even when visits cannot, and request records be sent to the facility holding the patient.
