The teenage daughter of a Chicago man detained in an immigration case has died of a rare cancer

A Chicago teenager who spoke out for the release of her father, who was detained by immigration officials in a deportation case last fall, has died after battling a rare cancer.

Ofelia Giselle Torres Hidalgo, 16, died Friday of stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, the family said in a statement. Funeral arrangements are private.

The teenager was diagnosed with an aggressive form of soft tissue cancer in December 2024 and is undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Three days before Ofelia’s death, an immigration judge in Chicago said in a statement sent by Torres Maldonado’s attorney that her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was eligible for a “cancellation of removal” because of the hardship that deportation would cause his children, who were born in the United States and are US citizens.

The ruling paves the way for Torres Maldonado to become a lawful permanent resident and eventually become a US citizen, the statement said.

Ophelia attended last week’s hearing via Zoom.

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“Ophelia has been heroic and brave in ICE’s detention and her father’s threats to deport,” said Kalman Resnick, Torres Maldonado’s attorney. “We mourn Ophelia’s passing and we hope she serves as a model for all of us how to be brave and fight for what is right with our last breaths.”

Torres Maldonado, a painter and home renovator, was detained Oct. 18 at a Home Depot store in suburban Chicago, the area at the center of a major immigration crackdown dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz” that began in early September.

Ofelia was receiving treatment when she appeared in October in a video posted on a GoFundMe page set up for the family.

“My father, like many other fathers, is a hard worker who wakes up early in the morning, thinks about his family and goes to work without complaint,” she said in the video. “I think it’s very unfair that hard-working immigrant families are being targeted because they weren’t born here.”

In a wheelchair, she attended the hearing for her father in October. Family lawyers told a judge at the time that she had been released from the hospital a day before her father’s arrest to see family and friends. They added that Ophelia was unable to continue treatment “due to stress and disruption”.

Torres Maldonado’s lawyers petitioned for his release as his deportation case went through the system. A judge ordered the 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 record when allowing him to be released on $2,000 bond.

Torres Maldonado entered the US in 2003, prosecutors said. He and his partner Sandibel Hidalgo also have a young son.

The Department of Homeland Security alleges he has been living in the US illegally for years and has a history of driving offenses including driving without a valid license, no insurance and speeding.