Teen daughter of a Chicago man detained in an immigration case dies from
a rare cancer
[February 16, 2026]
CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago teen who spoke out for her
father's release after he was detained last fall by immigration
officials in a deportation case has died after battling a rare form of
cancer.
Ofelia Giselle Torres Hidalgo, 16, died Friday from stage 4 alveolar
rhabdomyosarcoma, the family said in a statement. Funeral arrangements
are private.
The teenager had been diagnosed in December 2024 with the aggressive
form of soft tissue cancer and had been undergoing chemotherapy and
radiation treatment.
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.
“Ofelia was heroic and brave in the face of ICE’s detention and
threatened deportation of her father,” said Kalman Resnick, Torres
Maldonado's attorney. “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 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 undergoing treatment when she appeared in October in a video
posted on a GoFundMe page set up for the family.
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Sandibell Hidalgo, left, and Ofelia Torres, 16, speak during a news
conference calling for the release of Ruben Torres Maldonado on Oct.
22, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)
“My dad, like many other fathers, is a hard-working person who wakes
up early in the morning and goes to work without complaining,
thinking about his family,” she said in the video. “I find it so
unfair that hardworking immigrant families are being targeted just
because they were not born here.”
In a wheelchair, she attended a hearing for her father in October.
The family’s attorneys told a judge at that time that she was
released from the hospital just a day before her father’s arrest so
that she could see family and friends. They added that Ofelia had
been unable to continue treatment “because of the stress and
disruption.”
Torres Maldonado's attorneys petitioned for his release as his
deportation case went through the system. A judge ordered a bond
hearing after ruling in October that his detention was illegal and
violated Torres Maldonado's due process rights.
A judge later cited Torres Maldonado’s lack of criminal history
while allowing his release on a $2,000 bond.
Lawyers said Torres Maldonado entered the U.S. in 2003. He and his
partner, Sandibell Hidalgo, also have a younger son.
The Department of Homeland Security had alleged he had been living
illegally in the U.S. for years and has a history of driving
offenses, including driving without a valid license, without
insurance and speeding.
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