A Chicago teen who spoke out for her father’s release after he was detained last fall by immigration officials has died after battling a rare form of cancer. The family says 16-year-old Ofelia Giselle Torres Hidalgo died Friday. She had been diagnosed in December 2024 with the aggressive form of soft tissue cancer and had been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment. The family's statement says an immigration judge 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 born in the United States. The children are U.S. citizens.
