Teen daughter of Chicago man detained in immigration case dies of rare cancer
A Chicago teenager who publicly pleaded for her father’s release after he was detained in an immigration case last fall has died following a battle with a rare and aggressive cancer. Ofelia Giselle Torres Hidalgo was 16. Her family said she passed away on Friday from stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, an advanced form of soft tissue cancer. Funeral services will be held privately. Ofelia had been diagnosed in December 2024 and endured months of chemotherapy and radiation as her condition worsened.
Just three days before her death, an immigration judge in Chicago ruled that her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was conditionally eligible for cancellation of removal, citing the severe hardship his deportation would cause his U.S.-born children. The decision opens a path for him to seek lawful permanent residency and eventually U.S. citizenship. Ofelia attended the hearing virtually via Zoom despite her declining health. Her father’s attorney described her as courageous for speaking out during her father's detention and fighting for her family while confronting her illness.
Torres Maldonado, a painter and home renovator, was detained on Oct. 18 at a Home Depot in suburban Chicago during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation known as “Operation Midway Blitz,” which began in early September. At the time, Ofelia was undergoing intensive treatment. In October, she appeared in a video shared through a GoFundMe campaign created to support the family. Speaking from her hospital bed, she described her father as a hardworking man who rose early each day to provide for his family and said it was unfair that immigrant families were being targeted.
Despite her fragile condition, Ofelia attended one of her father’s hearings in a wheelchair shortly after being released from the hospital so she could see loved ones. Family attorneys told the court that the stress surrounding her father’s detention had disrupted her treatment. Lawyers later challenged Torres Maldonado’s detention, and a judge ruled in October that it violated his due process rights, ordering a bond hearing. He was subsequently released on a $2,000 bond, with the judge noting his lack of criminal history. Torres Maldonado, who entered the United States in 2003, shares Ofelia and a younger son with his partner, Sandibell Hidalgo. Federal officials had alleged he had been living in the country without legal status and cited prior driving-related offenses, including driving without a valid license, without insurance and speeding.
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