CHICAGO — Ofelia Torres, the teen who, while facing cancer, fought for her father’s freedom after federal immigration agents arrested him, has died.
Torres, 16, died Friday from cancer, according to a news release. Just days beforehand, a judge ruled her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, would receive “cancellation of removal,” protecting him from the immediate threat of deportation and making it so he can pursue permanent residence status and, potentially, citizenship.
Torres was able to watch the hearing digitally “to witness her family’s victory,” according to the news release.
It was Torres whose actions led to national attention on the family’s plight as she and others battled for her father’s freedom. There is an online fundraiser to support her family.
“Ofelia was heroic and brave in the face of ICE’s detention and threatened deportation of her father,” Kalman Resnick, the attorney representing her father, said in the news release. “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.”
Torres, a student at Lake View High School, had just returned home from Lurie Children’s Hospital — where she’d been for 39 days, receiving treatment for her cancer — when agents arrested her father as he walked out of a Home Depot in suburban Niles.
The Torres family, with Ofelia Torres on the right. Credit: Provided/Ofelia Torres
Torres Maldonado has no criminal record and has lived in Chicago since 2003 with his partner of 20 years, Sandibell, the mother of Ofelia and 4-year-old Nathan. A house painter and contract worker, he’s had the same boss for 20 years and is the family’s sole provider.
Torres posted a video online about her father’s arrest, pleading for people to help her family. Politicians held news conferences where the 16-year-old shared her family’s story.
“Now he’s in a vulnerable situation, and I feel like I have to step up,” Torres said at an October news conference shortly after her father was arrested. “This is partially a way I can fulfill that. I let everyone know my diagnosis. Most importantly, I let them know what they did to him and what type of person he is.”
Torres’ outspokenness led to significant attention for the family, highlighting the seemingly random people who were taken away by federal agents as part of operations Midway Blitz and At Large.
An immigration judge quickly released Torres Maldonado, noting she saw “noting in the record” showing he might pose a danger to the community. Another judge had ruled his arrest was unlawful.
Torres Maldonado was reunited with his family at the end of October, enveloping his two children in a hug. That night, Torres cried happy tears and smiled, happy to have her family together again.
Torres led a “steadfast, dedicated and truly inspiring life,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a social media statement mourning her death.
“Her courage amidst powerful forces that have been designed to stoke fear, uncertainty, and division shows us who we are at our best — compassionate without condition, unwavering in our [commitment] to justice … and brave despite all the odds,” Johnson said in the statement Sunday.
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