The family of a pastor who suffered a stroke while in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention have said they are “terrified” about how he might be treated.

Pastor Gabriel Johnson, 55, was detained at his family home in North Carolina on 15 July. Relatives believe he has been transferred between multiple facilities before being moved to Texas, where he had the stroke on 30 July which has stopped movement in half of his body.

Aged 15, Johnson entered the USA from Liberia. Family members maintained he was legally in the country at the time of his arrest.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said he had overstayed a six-month visa issued in 1987, that a judge had ordered his removal in 1991, and that he has a “lengthy rap sheet”.

His daughter, Gabri Johnson, said in a social media video that the pastor had “begged” for his prescribed medication which would have prevented a stroke, and that he had been denied regular food and order. 

She alleges that ICE agents “mocked [him] when he pleaded for the care he needed”. 

“We are terrified that once he is medically cleared (paralyzed or not), he could be placed on an aircraft alone and sent to a country he has never been to before while recovering from a stroke”, the daughter added. 

It is believed the Elm Grove Church Ministries pastor is now in a stable condition. 

A number of church leaders have been detained by ICE, including two pastors arrested while on their way to a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association retreat in North Carolina last month.