Nine independent doctors who reviewed Andrea Pedro Francisco’s medical records say she urgently needs surgery for an ovarian cyst. ICE has denied it for four months. Her hearing is today, May 20, and her attorneys fear deportation without a full hearing.
Today Is Her Hearing
Andrea Pedro Francisco has a court date today, May 20, 2026. She has been in ICE detention for more than three and a half months. She has an ovarian cyst that nine independent doctors say requires urgent surgery. And her attorneys fear that the immigration judge could order her deported without ever hearing the full merits of her asylum case, using a procedural shortcut known as pretermission.
This is where her case stands: a 23-year-old woman from Guatemala, with no criminal record, no deportation order, a pending asylum claim, and a medical condition that outside physicians describe as potentially life-threatening, facing possible removal today while ICE continues to deny her the operation that was scheduled before she was ever arrested.
What the Doctors Found
The Texas Tribune obtained and reviewed 200 pages of Andrea’s medical records and shared them with nine independent medical experts: eight OB-GYNs and an emergency physician who specializes in detainee care.
All nine agreed. Andrea is at “high risk” for a medical emergency. Her treatment in ICE detention constitutes medical malpractice. She urgently requires surgery.
Dr. Louis Monnig, a Louisiana OB-GYN at Ochsner Health, wrote in a legal petition demanding her release: “It is my medical opinion that Ms. Pedro Francisco will suffer irreparable harm if this treatment is not provided promptly.”
Dr. Lauren Thaxton, a Colorado gynecologist, said her condition “should be surgically explored” and that her persistent pain over months necessitates an operation. Dr. Kristyn Brandi, a New Jersey gynecologist, warned the cyst could be cancerous, stating: “Removing it early would be important to stop the spread of disease. It is inhumane for a patient having so much pain that she was scheduled for surgery to be held without treatment.”
Seven of the nine doctors warned that Andrea’s ovaries are at risk of damage that could permanently affect her ability to have children. One doctor put it plainly: her ovary could become “nonfunctional within her body due to the lack of blood supply.” That outcome, the doctor said, “is not a reversible outcome.”
ICE’s position, in a statement from spokesperson Leticia Zamarripa: medical staff determined Andrea’s condition “does not make her a candidate for surgical intervention.” ICE has recommended only a “periodic” ultrasound.
What ICE Is Actually Treating Her For
The most troubling finding in the Texas Tribune investigation is not just that ICE has refused surgery. It is that ICE may have misdiagnosed Andrea entirely in order to justify refusing it.
Dr. William Weber, who practices emergency medicine in Minnesota and leads a nonprofit focused on care in detention facilities, reviewed Andrea’s records along with four other experts. They found evidence suggesting ICE medical staff may have diagnosed Andrea with Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, a common condition that produces cysts that are generally not painful or dangerous, and used that diagnosis to justify treating her with over-the-counter pain relievers instead of surgery.
The problem: Andrea’s prior medical records do not support that diagnosis. Weber noted that the assessment appears to have been made by a male nurse practitioner, without an ultrasound and without the extensive examination the condition requires.
“Either the nurse practitioner just doesn’t know the difference, because they have much less training than a physician, so maybe they just didn’t know,” Weber said. “Based on her records, ICE never documented any rationale for diagnosing her with that, nor did they do any testing.”
Ruby Powers, Andrea’s attorney at Powers Law Group, has described this pattern directly: “What the ICE medical team is telling her simply doesn’t match up with what doctors in the outside world say. This is barbaric treatment at best and deadly at worst.”
Who Andrea Is
Andrea Pedro Francisco was born in the Guatemalan Western Highlands, a region marked by the worst massacres of Central America’s civil wars. She and her mother are Indigenous, and they described suffering discrimination, poverty, and violence. Her mother was sexually assaulted. A relative was killed in what the family believes was a targeted gang attack. In 2019, when Andrea was 16, her mother brought her to the United States. They requested asylum at the border.
Trump’s first administration released them while their asylum cases moved through the backlogged immigration courts. They settled in Minnesota, found family, found work, found community. Andrea’s mother had two children in the United States, both American citizens, now ages 1 and 5.
Andrea worked cleaning houses with her mother. She played bass and sang for her church’s musical group. She served as a leader among the deacons. A friend who played music with her said she “has a way of making people laugh and feel comfortable” and “not only brought leadership but also joy and a sense of unity.”
On February 4, 2026, federal agents stopped the car she was driving, with her mother and siblings inside, as part of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. Her mother, who has the same immigration status, was allowed to leave with the American citizen children. Andrea was detained.
Her surgery had been scheduled for February 11. She was arrested on February 4. On February 7, she was rushed to the emergency room from Camp East Montana in excruciating pain, four days before the operation that was supposed to remove the cyst.
Physicians discharged her back to the detention facility with written warnings: if she experienced pain in her back, hip, stomach, or while urinating, she should urgently seek critical care. She has experienced all of those symptoms. She has primarily received ibuprofen.
The Legal Dead Ends, and the One Door Still Open
From the moment of her detention, her legal team has pursued every available avenue.
Attorney Asra Syed filed a habeas corpus petition in February. It landed before US District Judge Leon Schydlower in El Paso, who has denied the vast majority of habeas petitions before him. Other Texas attorneys who have appeared before Schydlower described his denials in similar cases as appearing to be “copy and paste.” He denied Andrea’s petition and also denied a temporary restraining order seeking emergency medical treatment.
ICE rejected her first humanitarian parole request. A second request is pending.
Bond hearings, which previous administrations made available to detained immigrants, are no longer accessible to most people in Andrea’s situation. A ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit this spring ended that option for most immigrants detained in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
“The administration is denying Andrea legal recourse,” said Syed, “while every day Andrea and a chorus of people that are advocating on her behalf are screaming for basic medical care and it’s still being ignored.”
Powers, her other attorney, put it in constitutional terms: “Andrea’s case is why habeas corpus exists. ICE arrested her five days before that surgery. The Constitution doesn’t have an asterisk for immigrants. When the government takes someone’s freedom, it takes responsibility for their life. Right now, it’s failing.”
What Is at Stake Today
Andrea’s immigration court hearing is scheduled for May 20. Her lawyers’ most immediate fear is pretermission: a procedural tool that allows an immigration judge to deny an asylum claim without hearing testimony, sending someone toward deportation without a full hearing on the merits.
If that happens, Andrea faces removal to Guatemala, a country she and her mother fled because of violence and discrimination. She has no one there. Her mother, her siblings, and her entire community are in Minnesota. Her case for asylum, based on the violence her family experienced, has never been fully heard.
She said last week, in a video interview conducted from the detention facility: “I feel like I’m getting worse every day. At night I don’t sleep well and in the day I don’t feel like the same person.”
She also said this, when told that doctors warn the delay could affect her ability to have children: “I love children, they are beautiful. But I guess right now I first need to see what is going to happen to me.”
Powers Law Group Is Here
Ruby L. Powers of Powers Law Group is one of Andrea’s attorneys and has been fighting for her release since her detention began. If you or someone you know is in immigration detention with a medical condition being ignored or denied, that is a legal emergency. Contact Powers Law Group today.
Sources
- Lomi Kriel, Doctors Say Woman in El Paso ICE Detention Center Urgently Requires Surgery That She Is Being Denied, The Texas Tribune, May 20, 2026. https://www.texastribune.org
- El Paso Times, Migrant Held by ICE in El Paso Needs Surgery, Her Attorney Is Concerned, April 22, 2026. https://www.elpasotimes.com
- El Paso Matters, Minnesota Woman Detained by ICE in El Paso Seeks Release as Her Ovarian Cyst Worsens, 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
- 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
- KFF Health News, Deaths in ICE Custody at Highest Rate in Over Two Decades, 2026. https://www.kff.org
- San Francisco Chronicle, Investigation: At Least 17 ICE Detainee Deaths Linked to Medical Neglect, 2026. https://www.sfchronicle.com
- ACLU, Know Your Rights: What to Do If ICE Comes to Your Home, 2025. https://www.aclu.org
- Powers Law Group, ICE Is Telling Her the Cyst Doesn’t Exist. Her Attorney Says It’s the Size of a Tennis Ball., April 2026. https://www.rubypowerslaw.com
