Immigration detention officials have confirmed that a Minnesota woman detained in El Paso for almost two months has an ovarian cyst, but haven’t provided information on how they plan to treat her, the detainee’s congresswoman said Monday.
“In the last few days, El Paso processing has confirmed that her ovarian cyst is still there. But they have not yet allowed her to receive any sort of surgery,” Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., told the media after visiting with Andrea Pedro Francisco, 23, who has lived in the Twin Cities suburb of Burnsville since she was 16. That’s when she left Guatemala with her mother and sought asylum in the United States.
Pedro Francisco, 23, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Feb. 5 while on her way to work, just six days before she was scheduled to undergo surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. Instead of receiving the planned procedure, she was sent to an ICE detention facility in El Paso.
Craig said she met with Pedro Francisco for about 40 minutes Monday at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement El Paso Service Processing Center, where the woman is currently detained. She said Pedro Francisco is “pretty depressed” and in constant pain, and doesn’t believe that ICE will authorize surgery, despite a recent ultrasound confirming the ovarian cyst.
“I refuse to accept that. I hope that the officials here will look at her most recent ultrasound, the massive amount now of medical evidence that she needs the surgery, and will allow her to get the care that she needs,” Craig said.
She said medical staff at Camp East Montana, the ICE detention facility where Pedro Francisco was held from Feb. 5 to March 20, told her she didn’t have a cyst. The ultrasound at El Paso Service Processing Center confirmed her Minnesota doctor’s diagnosis, raising disturbing questions about the quality of ICE medical care, Craig said.
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“So, of course, I’m not satisfied with what’s happening here in El Paso with her care,” the congresswoman said.
ICE officials didn’t immediately respond to El Paso Matters’ request for comment on Pedro Francisco’s medical status. The agency has previously said detainees receive appropriate medical care.
Twenty-nine people died in ICE custody between the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2025, and mid-April, according to government data. That is more deaths than in any previous fiscal year. Three of the deaths were at Camp East Montana, which is on Fort Bliss property in far East El Paso and is designed to hold 5,000 people, making it ICE’s largest detention facility.
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“This case, Andrea’s case, is evidence to me that maybe ICE, at this point, is not taking this serious enough to keep the health and well being of its detainees as the biggest priority,” Craig said at the media briefing outside Camp East Montana.
Pedro Francisco’s cyst has been described as the size of a tennis ball. Surgery often is the recommended course for large ovarian cysts, and delaying surgery can increase complications if the cyst ruptures, according to medical literature. Ruptured cysts can be fatal in rare cases.
Craig described Pedro Francisco as “a selfless young woman who, you know, her entire mission in life seems to be to serve others and to serve God.”
Pedro Francisco “is trying to hold on to hope, but at the same time understanding that this situation is desperate and that her medical complexities and condition could prevent her from ever going home again if it’s not properly cared for,” Craig said.
An El Paso federal judge in April denied Pedro Francisco’s request for a writ of habeas corpus, which could have led to a bond hearing before an immigration judge. Her only path to release is through humanitarian parole from ICE.
Pedro Franciso’s immigration attorney, Ruby Powers, said they haven’t received a response from ICE on that request.
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During her detention, Pedro Francisco has reported severe and escalating pain, extended menstrual bleeding, and symptoms such as faintness and back pain. Her case has drawn international attention, with members of Congress, human rights organizations and religious groups calling for her release so she can obtain proper medical care.
Pedro Francisco came to the United States in 2019 as a teenager, fleeing violence in Guatemala with her mother and building a life in Minnesota. Her detention was part of the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement operation that swept up thousands of people, many without criminal histories.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people detained in the Minnesota operation were brought to the Camp East Montana detention facility., Craig visited both the El Paso Service Processing Center, which is near the airport, and Camp East Montana on Monday.
The post Minnesota woman detained by ICE in El Paso still denied ovarian cyst surgery, congresswoman says appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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