After publicly urging the release of her detained father, a Chicago teen dies from rare cancer as an immigration judge grants him cancellation of removal.
The Chicago teen who fought for her father’s release from ICE custody has died from a rare cancer, three days after Torres Maldonado, who did not have a criminal record, came to the U.S. in 2023. His attorney said ICE agents smashed the window of his truck and dragged him away.
That was just a day after Ofelia, who was diagnosed with a rare soft tissue cancer in December 2024, was released from Lurie Children’s Hospital so she could spend a weekend with family and friends during a break from chemotherapy.
Ofelia’s doctor said she was unable to continue with treatment due to the stress caused by her father’s arrest.
Going public to help father
In a fall interview, Ofelia said she initially wanted to keep her cancer diagnosis secret, but she said she felt the need to speak publicly to defend her father.
Her subsequent social media post calling for her father’s release put the Trump administration’s push to deport Torres Maldonado in the national spotlight.
In late October, a judge ordered Torres Maldonado released from ICE custody on a $2,000 bond.
On Tuesday, three days before she died, Ofelia virtually attended a hearing for her father, during which an immigration judge ruled that he was entitled to receive “cancellation of removal” due to hardships his deportation would cause his children, who are U.S. citizens.
The ruling provides a way for Torres Maldonado to apply to become a permanent resident and possibly to become a U.S. citizen.
Ofelia’s family says they’re remembering her courage throughout her cancer battle.
“Ofelia was heroic and brave in the face of ICE’s detention and threatened deportation of her father,” Kalman Resnick, Torres Maldonado’s attorney, said 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.”
