ICE Tried to Deport Him. Tumor Care Was Denied

Aliaksei Shcharbachenia, a 35-year-old asylum-seeker from Belarus held for nearly a year at Farmville Detention Center in Virginia, says medical care has been delayed as a tumor grows on his arm and his ability to file for asylum has been hindered without a tr

When Aliaksei Shcharbachenia falls asleep. he says. he dreams of a plane and an immigration agent’s hands wrapped around his neck. When he wakes. that image still clings to him—but the more immediate reality is harsher and far more mundane: months of waiting inside Farmville Detention Center. where he says he is not being treated even as a tumor grows on his arm.

The 35-year-old asylum-seeker from Belarus has spent nearly a year at Farmville Detention Center. He told an outlet that the pain increases when he touches the growth. which he said is now roughly the size of an egg. He said he has lost feeling in the fingers on his right hand. He told investigators through an internal oversight complaint to the Department of Homeland Security that he requested to see a specialist in December. As of last week, he said he had not seen one and had not received a diagnosis.

In the same complaint, Shcharbachenia said the U.S. government illegally tried to deport him back to Belarus—where he fled political persecution in 2021.

CoreCivic spokesperson Brian Todd. in a statement. said the contractor does not use solitary confinement and instead uses “restrictive housing. ” a term describing confinement of a detained person in isolation from other people. Todd denied allegations of retaliatory treatment. ICE did not respond to requests for comment.

Shcharbachenia’s case is playing out as the federal government moves to expand immigration enforcement. Earlier this month, Congress approved roughly $70 billion for immigration enforcement efforts. Last year, the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act allocated more than $170 billion over the next four years for immigration enforcement. The Trump administration has also been rapidly purchasing detention centers with a plan to have the capacity to detain 100. 000 immigrants at once.

“They’re using detention as a form of punishment as a way to get people to relinquish their rights to remain in this country. ” said Sophia Gregg. senior immigrants’ rights attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. Gregg said there’s no indication the administration will manage new facilities better than existing ones. Many, she said, are converted warehouses and “temporary shelters.”.

“They have no incentive in creating conditions that are humane,” Gregg said. She added that the mass infusion of cash is expected to put more detention facilities online, offering what she described as the bare minimum at the cost of human life and human suffering.

At Farmville, Shcharbachenia says, the problems are physical and procedural. He told investigators that he believes he was targeted for speaking up. In May, he said he was caught sharing “know your rights” information with new detainees. Guards then placed him in solitary confinement. He said he was held for two weeks and that he was let out of his cell with his legs and arms bound by chains.

He also alleges he has been denied basic access needed to pursue asylum. Shcharbachenia. who primarily speaks Russian. said CoreCivic staff denied him access to a translator or any assistance in filing his asylum claim. He said he received documents related to his claims while in detention. but without a translator. he could not act on them.

In February—two months after he requested urgent medical attention—Shcharbachenia said he was finally seen by an onsite doctor about his arm. He said she only measured the growth and did not provide treatment. and that he still has not seen a specialist. He said he also had a telehealth appointment, but it was for mental health care.

In a letter from Shcharbachenia to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General in March. he detailed his medical condition and repeated requests to receive outside “specialist evaluation and imaging.” Todd told the outlet he could not comment on whether Shcharbachenia had seen a specialist or received a diagnosis. but said he was seen multiple times by onsite medical staff.

Todd said, in his statement, that “The safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care is our top priority,” and that the company takes its responsibility to adhere to federal detention standards at the Farmville Detention Center seriously.

Shcharbachenia’s claims extend beyond the arm tumor. He said the facility’s ventilation system is dirty and that it is often freezing inside. He said the water is “undrinkable” and that the food is disgusting and “artificial.” Todd denied his claims about the lack of access to a translator as well as the state of the drinking water and ventilation system. Todd argued that the same “clean drinking water” supplies the local community and that staff use the same ventilation systems.

The detention center’s record has long been the subject of dispute. When Farmville Detention Center opened in 2010. its initial owners. Immigration Centers of America. argued private management would be more humane than what the government could provide. A spokesperson for Free Them All VA. which has been monitoring the facility for years. said the company sold it to the community as “almost a summer camp environment.”.

Advocates have said the reality has been harsher. In 2015, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement records released under the Freedom of Information Act. a guard pepper-sprayed a detainee while the person was in full restraints and confined to a medical isolation cell. In another instance from the same records, a detainee was restrained to a bed and chair for over four days. The “vendor” at the time. Immigration Centers of America. did not deny the incident but said the action was justified; ICE responded that it would not sanction the facility for the use of force.

The facility received a “one-time deduction” of its monthly invoice after detainees found “white worms” in their food. Todd said in his statement that he would not comment on whether specific medical care was provided. but the dispute over conditions has also been tied to the facility’s finances. Advocates said the deduction happened only because Immigration Centers of America had posted a memorandum threatening anyone who “attempted to degrade the reputation of” the facility. which the government interpreted as threatening complainants.

In 2020, detainees initiated a hunger strike to demand their release as Covid swept through the facility. In August of that year, 72-year-old Canadian man James Hill died after contracting the disease inside. Advocates said that guards reportedly used pepper spray against detainees on hunger strike instead of responding to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.

Then CoreCivic bought the facility in 2025.

“Things since [the facility] moved to CoreCivic have only gotten worse,” Gregg said. She pointed to what she described as difficulty accessing medical services for individuals.

Shcharbachenia’s current legal and medical predicament is inseparable from the moment he says the deportation attempt went wrong.

He said he was picked up by immigration agents at a truck stop in Virginia in August 2025. On May 20. after two weeks in isolation. ICE moved him to a facility in Chantilly. Virginia. according to a separate complaint filed with the DHS Joint Intake Center. He recalled an agent asking him if he was ready to fly to Belarus.

He said ICE flew him to Turkey. where he begged not to be returned to Belarus “as best he could in English.” He said he showed officers documents he’d printed out on human rights abuses in his home country and warned that if he returned. he would likely be murdered—leaving his two daughters fatherless.

He said the attempt continued anyway. He said he was flown from Turkey to Azerbaijan, where he was able to speak with immigration officers who understood his native Russian. Shcharbachenia said he refused to board the next plane to Belarus.

He said agents from the United States and Azerbaijan began to argue. He said that because he did not have his passport, he was unable to leave the airport. He said ICE eventually escorted him back to Turkey, where he was placed in a cell in the airport.

What followed, he alleges, was violence and restraints. He said agents removed “white plastic collars. like dog collars.” He said he begged a Turkish police officer who was present for asylum. He said a U.S. immigration agent approached him from behind and hit him across the head, causing him to lose consciousness.

Shcharbachenia said he woke up on the floor with another officer “choking him so hard he couldn’t breathe.” He said he passed out again and woke with the plastic collars around his legs and arms. He said he wrote about the incident in three complaints filed with internal DHS oversight agencies.

He said he was eventually transferred back to Farmville Detention Center, where he received no medical treatment for the injury he sustained from being hit on the back of his head.

As for the growing mass on his arm, he said he made multiple grievance requests for treatment. He said staff initially promised to get him an appointment within the month, but later stopped responding, leaving him waiting as the tumor continues to enlarge.

A call to the DHS Office of Inspector General to discuss Shcharbachenia’s case did not reach anyone when the outlet attempted to connect.

Todd did not directly confirm whether Shcharbachenia has received specialist evaluation or an imaging diagnosis. but he said Shcharbachenia was seen multiple times by onsite medical staff and that the facility’s water and ventilation meet standards. Shcharbachenia disputes that account, saying his ability to obtain care—and even to access translation assistance—has been blocked.

While Shcharbachenia says he endures the consequences of both the deportation attempt and the medical delays afterward. the larger political machine around him keeps accelerating—through emergency appropriations. rapid detention expansion. and the ongoing use of privately operated facilities that advocates say have too often offered the same thing: delay. confinement. and suffering.

ICE asylum-seeker Farmville Detention Center CoreCivic tumor deportation attempt DHS Office of Inspector General immigrants' rights ACLU of Virginia solitary confinement restrictive housing