Chicago Teen Who Fought for Her Father’s Freedom Dies of Rare Cancer at 16

CHICAGO — A Chicago teenager who became a public advocate for her father’s release after he was detained by immigration officials has died following a battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. She was 16.

Ofelia Giselle Torres Hidalgo died Friday from stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, her family confirmed in a statement. Funeral arrangements will be private.

The teen had been diagnosed with the aggressive cancer in December 2024 and was undergoing intensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Her health battle was compounded by a family crisis just two months prior, when her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was arrested in a high-profile immigration enforcement operation.

A Final Act of Courage in Court

In a poignant turn of events, an immigration judge in Chicago ruled just three days before Ofelia’s death that her father was conditionally entitled to “cancellation of removal.” According to a statement from Torres Maldonado’s attorney, Kalman Resnick, the ruling was based on the extreme hardship his deportation would cause his U.S.-citizen children. The decision provides Torres Maldonado with a path to apply for lawful permanent residency and, eventually, U.S. citizenship.

Ofelia, though frail from her illness, was present via Zoom at the pivotal hearing last week, witnessing the legal victory she had fought so hard to achieve.

“Ofelia was heroic and brave in the face of ICE’s detention and threatened deportation of her father,” Resnick said. “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.”

The Fight for Her Father

Torres Maldonado, a painter and home renovator who has lived in the U.S. since 2003, was detained on October 18 at a Home Depot store in suburban Chicago. His arrest occurred during “Operation Midway Blitz,” a major immigration enforcement crackdown that began in early September and targeted the Chicago area.

At the time of his arrest, Ofelia was in the midst of her own grueling medical battle. The family’s attorneys told a judge in October that she had been released from the hospital the day before her father was taken into custody—a brief respite intended to allow her to spend time with family.

The stress of her father’s detention took a severe toll. Attorneys later stated that Ofelia was temporarily unable to continue her cancer treatment “because of the stress and disruption” caused by his incarceration.

Despite her condition, Ofelia became the family’s most powerful voice. In October, a video of her was posted on a GoFundMe page established to support the family. In it, she spoke directly to the public from her hospital bed.

“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.”

Days after that video was filmed, she attended a court hearing for her father in a wheelchair, a silent but powerful testament to the stakes of the case.

A Legal Battle and Release

Torres Maldonado’s attorneys successfully petitioned for his release as his deportation case progressed. In October, a judge ruled his detention was illegal, citing violations of his due process rights, and ordered a bond hearing. A subsequent judge, noting Torres Maldonado’s lack of criminal history beyond traffic violations, granted his release on a $2,000 bond.

The Department of Homeland Security had argued that Torres Maldonado had been living in the U.S. illegally for years and had a history of driving offenses, including driving without a valid license, without insurance, and speeding.

He was ultimately able to be with his family in the final months of his daughter’s life. He and his partner, Sandibell Hidalgo, are also parents to a younger son.

Ofelia Giselle Torres Hidalgo is remembered by her family and the community as a courageous young woman who, even as she fought for her own life, used her voice to fight for the soul of her family.

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