Minnesota Woman Detained by ICE Denied Critical Ovarian Cyst Surgery Despite Confirmed Diagnosis

Andrea Pedro Francisco, a young immigrant from Guatemala living in Minnesota, is trapped in an ICE detention nightmare in El Paso, where she faces unbearable pain and medical neglect. Despite a recent ultrasound confirming a tennis ball-sized ovarian cyst, ICE officials have refused to authorize the surgery she urgently needs.

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) visited Pedro Francisco at the El Paso Service Processing Center and described her as “pretty depressed” and in constant pain. Craig condemned ICE’s refusal to provide surgery, highlighting that medical staff at a previous facility outright denied the cyst’s existence, raising serious concerns about ICE’s medical care standards.

Pedro Francisco was detained on February 5, just days before a scheduled surgery in Minnesota. Instead of treatment, she was forcibly transferred to Texas, where her condition has worsened. Delaying surgery for such cysts risks rupture, which can be fatal—a risk ICE seems indifferent to.

This case is emblematic of a broader crisis. Since October 2025, 29 people have died in ICE custody, the highest toll on record. Camp East Montana, where Pedro Francisco was initially held, has been linked to multiple deaths and numerous detention violations.

Pedro Francisco’s only hope for release is humanitarian parole, which ICE has yet to grant despite pleas from her legal team and widespread calls from Congress, human rights groups, and religious organizations. A federal judge recently denied her habeas corpus petition, leaving her trapped in a system that prioritizes enforcement over health and humanity.

Her story lays bare the cruel reality of ICE detention centers under the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies. It demands urgent accountability for the systemic medical neglect and inhumane conditions that continue to endanger detainees’ lives.