Chicago teen whose father was detained by ICE dies from rare cancer
Chicago teen whose father was detained by ICE dies from rare cancer
The teenager who fought for her father's release from ICE detention has died. Ofelia Torres, 16, passed away Friday from an aggressive form of cancer.
CHICAGO - The video in the above player was from Oct. 21, 2025.
CHICAGO - The Chicago teenager who fought for her father’s release from ICE custody last year, has died from a rare cancer, according to a family spokesperson.
Ofelia Giselle Torres Hidalgo died on Friday from stage 4 Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, according to a news release.
She was 16 years old.
The teenager had been diagnosed in December 2024 with the aggressive form of soft tissue cancer and had been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
The backstory:
Last year, Torres made national headlines after she pleaded for the release of her father from ICE custody.
Her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, had his removal conditionally canceled due to "hardships his deportation would cause his U.S. citizen children," according to the release.
An immigration judge in Chicago ruled three days before Ofelia’s death that her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was conditionally entitled to receive "cancellation of removal" due to the hardships his deportation would cause his children who were born in the United States and are U.S. citizens, according to the statement sent by an attorney representing Torres Maldonado.
The ruling provides Torres Maldonado with a path to becoming a lawful permanent resident and eventual U.S. citizenship, the statement said.
Ofelia was present via Zoom at last week’s hearing.
Torres Maldonado, a painter and home renovator, was detained Oct. 18 at a Home Depot store in suburban Chicago as the area was at the center of a major immigration crackdown dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz," which began in early September.
"Ofelia was heroic and brave in the face of ICE’s detention and threatened deportation of her father," said Kalman Resnick, the attorney representing Torres, in a statement. "We mourn Ofelia’s passing, and we hope that she will serve as a model for us all for how to be courageous and to fight for what’s right to our last breaths."
Torres was a junior at Lake View High School in Chicago.
Private funeral arrangements have been made. A GoFundMe account made to raise money for her family has raised over $120,000.