'Terrified': Belarus asylum-seeker's partner fears for her life after months in ICE detention
Katsiaryna Bartko reports a past medical history of thyroid cancer.
An 33-year-old woman originally from Belarus is asking a court to order her release from immigration detention, claiming she has gone months in an ICE detention center without adequate lifesaving medicine.
Attorneys for Katsiaryna Bartko, who is seeking asylum after entering the U.S. in 2022, on Friday will ask a Kansas federal district court to order her to be released for supervised medical treatment while her immigration case is pending.
Bartko entered the U.S. on a student visa to avoid political persecution over her vocal opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. ICE officials said her student status was terminated in March 2023.
According to court documents, she had applied for asylum the previous month in February 2023.
Bartko was detained by ICE in Florida in June 2026, and taken to the Miramar ICE field office after local charges were dropped for a domestic battery charge.
According to a statement from ICE, "Local law enforcement arrested Katsiaryna Bartko, a criminal illegal alien from Belarus, for battery domestic violence. ICE lodged an immigration detainer on May 6, 2026. Since Florida cooperates, this criminal illegal alien was turned over to ICE."
Bartko's partner, Dmitry Shyshov, said the incident was the result of a disturbance complaint at a party that the two attended. According to the Miami-Dade County court clerk's office, these charges were dropped.
"Her case was dismissed both by the judge and the prosecutor of Miami-Dade, and they pick her up 48 hours after the case was dismissed," Shyshov said. "I was literally spending nights near this field office just because I was so concerned about her health."
Bartko was also charged with disorderly intoxication in 2025, but prosecution was not pursued after she successfully completion a diversion program in June, according to ABC News' review of criminal records.
Bartko reports a past medical history of thyroid cancer and said she requires two pills a day to survive, according to court documents filed on her behalf. She says the pills help regulate critical hormones in her body following treatment for thyroid cancer.
Shyshov claims that while in detention, Bartko has not consistently received her medications, occasionally going without them for days at a time.
If she misses doses, she could slip into severe hormone deficiency and a myxedema coma, with a reported mortality of 25-60%, according to court documents.
"She contends that repeated failures, objective deterioration, and the medical evidence establish that this custody arrangement cannot safely preserve a life sustaining regimen," court documents said.
The documents also say Bartko was taken to an emergency room three separate times in four days during her early detention, including initially with critically low levels of calcium.
"She is non-criminal. She is living here in Miami. We have, like, everything here in Miami, so she'll be easily released," Shyshov said. "But they took her, they transferred her to Kansas."
Shyshov said Bartko, in phone calls from the detention center, described repeated instances of allegedly improper medical care.
"She was without her medications, she faced acute hand symptom, and she came to them and asking, 'Can you call me a doctor?' They said, 'Write a sick note.' She said, 'How? How can I do it?' Shyshov recounted. "They said, 'We don't care.'"
In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security representative said Bartko is "actively receiving proper medical care," adding that ICE is "working with the hospital to ensure that Bartko is covered."
"This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care," the statement said.
"This is the best healthcare many aliens have received in their entire lives," said the statement.
Medical records from Bartko's detention provided by Shyshov and reviewed by ABC News suggest she may not have been taking sufficient medication for her condition.
The records show TSH levels were observed to steadily increase to high levels over Bartko's time in custody. TSH stands for thyroid stimulating hormone and levels that are too high or too low may be a sign of a thyroid problem, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Dr. Sarah Raza, a double board-certified physician in vascular and interventional radiology for the Physicians for Human Rights Asylum Network, provided her medical opinion in court documents.
"Ms. Bartko remains at foreseeable risk of serious complications from severe thyroid-hormone under-replacement unless effective replacement therapy and prompt specialist-directed monitoring are established," Raza said. "Placement in any setting that cannot reliably provide, document, and promptly adjust this essential therapy remains medically unsafe."
When asked about these claims, Ryan Gustin, a senior public affairs officer for CoreCivic, the company contracted to operate the detention center, said Bartko is "being regularly monitored by facility medical staff, with all known medical issues being addressed."
"Our onsite health services team at MRRC, as with every facility where we provide medical care, takes seriously their role and responsibility to provide high-quality healthcare, available 24/7, to the individuals in our care," Gustin said.
Shyshov said he constantly worries that Bartko's health will deteriorate silently.
"There will be no screaming, no asking for help, nothing -- just because she will have the throat spasm and she cannot scream in the case of hypocalcemia," Shyshov said. "If she will die in the myxedema coma, it will also happen in a heartbeat."
"You can imagine how terrified I am right now when I'm not hearing from her for hours already" he said.
Regarding Friday's court date, at which Bartko's attorneys will argue for her release, Shyshov said, "It's challenging, but I have no other options except fighting for her."
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