Andrea Pedro-Francisco, 23, remains in ICE detention in El Paso with a worsening ovarian cyst. Her attorney Ruby Powers of Powers Law Group visited her this week and is fighting for her release on humanitarian parole.
Six Days. That’s How Close She Was.
Andrea Pedro-Francisco had a surgery scheduled. February 11, 2026 — a laparoscopic procedure to remove an ovarian cyst that had grown large enough to require opioid pain medication just to get through the day. Six days before that appointment, on the morning of February 5, she left her home in Burnsville, Minnesota, to go to work cleaning houses.
ICE agents stopped her on the way. She was arrested, processed, and transferred — first to Camp East Montana, the overcrowded tent detention facility on Fort Bliss in El Paso, and later to the ICE processing center near El Paso International Airport. The surgery never happened.
That was more than two months ago. The cyst is now estimated to be the size of a tennis ball. And this week, when Houston immigration attorney Ruby Powers — who is representing Andrea — visited her at the El Paso processing center, what she heard was alarming.
“She just told me that the pain extends all the way to her back now. And that when she has her period, which usually lasts three days, it’s lasting 10 days. So that’s part of the concern — that she’s going to start bleeding out from the cyst,” Powers said.
Who Is Andrea
Andrea Pedro-Francisco is 23 years old. She came to the United States from Guatemala with her mother in 2019, when she was 16. They came without authorization, fleeing violence against women and Indigenous people in their home country. She has a pending asylum claim based on exactly those circumstances. She has never been ordered deported. She has no criminal record.
In Burnsville, she built a life. She plays guitar and other instruments for her church, where she is an active member of the congregation and was working toward becoming a deacon. She cares for her siblings. She works to support her family.
“She plays instruments for her church and is a strong believer. And she cares for her siblings and she’s very dedicated to her family — I think almost sacrificing her education and her plans and goals to be a dutiful daughter,” Powers said.
She was arrested a week before her scheduled surgery, during Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement campaign across the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. She had no criminal record, no deportation order, and no judicial warrant issued against her.
What ICE Says vs. What Ruby Powers Saw
ICE has maintained throughout Andrea’s detention that she is receiving adequate medical care. In a statement sent to multiple media organizations, the agency said: “Since arriving at Camp East Montana, she has been seen by medical staff on-site seven times, transported to an area emergency room once, and evaluated three times at a local behavioral health center. She was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst during her emergency room visit, for which she received pain medication and was returned to Camp East Montana.”
ICE also stated that detainees receive “comprehensive medical care, including access to vaccines, medical, dental, and mental health services, as well as medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.”
What Powers describes is something very different.
“They’re like, ‘Why are you telling people you’re not getting treatment?'” Powers said, describing how healthcare providers at the processing center have responded to Andrea. “And they keep telling her she doesn’t have a cyst. They do ultrasounds and say there’s nothing there, and they give her constipation medication. She takes the medication and she still has the pain.”
ICE’s own statement confirms the cyst exists. Medical literature confirms that delaying surgery on a cyst of this size increases the risk of rupture — and that in extreme cases, a ruptured ovarian cyst can be fatal. Representative Angie Craig, the Minnesota Democrat whose district includes Burnsville, has called Andrea’s ongoing detention “a life or death situation.”
A Visit, Two Pastors, and a Prayer
On Friday, April 18, Ruby Powers visited Andrea at the El Paso ICE processing center. She was not alone. Two Minnesota pastors — part of an ecumenical group traveling to El Paso to learn about immigration issues — were also permitted to visit. Andrea, who is deeply religious, was moved by the opportunity to pray with them.
Deb White, a member of the Moorhead, Minnesota, City Council, was part of that same ecumenical group. She spoke with the pastors after their visit.
“I know that just seeing her and hearing how she’s doing and knowing that she’s not getting the medical care that she urgently needs — it’s really heartbreaking and hard to believe that this is happening in the United States,” White said.
The visit is a reminder that Andrea is not forgotten. Her community in Minnesota, her church, her legal team, and advocates from across the country have not stopped fighting for her. But visits and prayers are not surgery.
The Legal Path Forward
On February 13, Andrea’s legal team filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, arguing that her indefinite detention was illegal. On April 2, US District Judge Leon Schydlower of El Paso denied the petition, citing a February ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed indefinite detention for people arrested in the interior of the United States after entering without authorization.
The denial was not a reflection of the merits of Andrea’s case alone — it was a reflection of which judge she was assigned. Federal court cases in El Paso are randomly distributed among four district judges. The other three have generally ruled that people in Andrea’s circumstances are entitled to a bond hearing. Judge Schydlower has consistently denied habeas corpus petitions from ICE detainees. Her case landed with him.
“In some ways, Pedro Francisco had bad luck,” El Paso Matters noted in its reporting today. The randomness of case assignment — not the strength of her legal arguments — determined this outcome.
Humanitarian parole is now the most direct remaining path to Andrea’s release. This is a discretionary power ICE holds — the ability to release a detainee on humanitarian grounds when their medical situation warrants it. Powers has formally requested humanitarian parole for Andrea. As of this writing, ICE has not responded.
“I think we need to realize that humans are being detained under our government’s power that are not getting the medical treatment that they need,” Powers said. “Would you want yourself to be in that situation? Would you want your mom, your kid? No way.”
A Case That Has Caught the World’s Attention
Andrea’s situation has now been covered by El Paso Matters, the Minnesota Reformer, NBC News, and international outlets. Amnesty International has issued an urgent action document on her behalf. Representative Angie Craig has held a press conference on the Burnsville street where Andrea was arrested, calling her case a matter of life and death. Haven Watch — the organization formed in the aftermath of an ICE agent killing Renee Good in Minneapolis — has helped coordinate her legal defense.
All of that attention has not yet produced the one thing Andrea needs: her release, and the surgery that was scheduled for February 11.
Her mother Lucia said it most simply, in a letter read aloud at the Burnsville press conference: “I think of and cry for Andrea day and night. I want her to safely come back to me soon.”
If Someone You Know Is Detained and Not Receiving Medical Care
What is happening to Andrea is not unique — it is part of a documented pattern in ICE detention facilities across the country, including Camp East Montana, where at least three detainees have died since December. As we reported this week, 16 people have died in ICE custody in 2026 alone, already surpassing the full-year total for 2024.
If someone you know is detained by ICE and not receiving adequate medical care, that is a legal emergency. Detained individuals have rights — including the right to medical treatment. Those rights require outside pressure to enforce.
Powers Law Group is actively involved in Andrea’s case and has experience representing detained individuals, filing emergency motions, and pursuing humanitarian parole requests. If you or someone you know is in a similar situation, do not wait. Contact Powers Law Group today.
Sources
- Robert Moore, Minnesota Woman Detained by ICE in El Paso Seeks Release as Her Ovarian Cyst Worsens, El Paso Matters, April 20, 2026. https://elpasomatters.org
- Minnesota Reformer, Texas Judge Denies Petition to Release Woman Detained in Minnesota With Medical Condition, April 7, 2026. https://minnesotareformer.com
- Minnesota Reformer, “I Feel Desperate”: Minnesota Woman Suffering Medical Emergency Stuck in Texas Detention, March 16, 2026. https://minnesotareformer.com
- Minnesota Reformer, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig Calls for Release of Woman in ICE Detention With Large Ovarian Cyst. https://minnesotareformer.com
- Amnesty International, USA: Andrea Pedro-Francisco — Urgent Action / Medical Concern, AMR 51/0878/2026, 2026. https://www.amnesty.org
- NBC News, As Immigrant Deaths in Custody Grow, ICE Reduces What Details Are Made Public, April 15, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com
- YouTube / Video Coverage, Andrea Pedro-Francisco Case — Interview and Coverage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8oqcYQRVHs
- YouTube / Video Coverage, Andrea Pedro-Francisco — Additional Media Coverage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdgZKg-2uGM
- ACLU, Know Your Rights: What to Do If ICE Comes to Your Home, 2025. https://www.aclu.org
- Powers Law Group, ICE Está Siendo Demandada, Cuestionada por sus Propios Aliados, y Sigue Arrestando Personas Sin Antecedentes, April 2026. https://www.rubypowerslaw.com
