Teen girl whose Chicago father was detained in an immigration case dies from a rare cancer
(CNN) 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 was 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 US citizens, according to the statement sent by an attorney representing Torres Maldonado.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/15/us/immigration-chicago-daughter-cancer