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ICE detained asylum seeker four months, denying scheduled cyst surgery and chaining her during outdoor time

Guatemalan asylum seeker Andrea Pedro-Francisco, then 23, was arrested by ICE on February 5, 2026, in Burnsville, Minnesota, during Operation Metro Surge, days before a scheduled surgery to remove an ovarian cyst, and transferred to Camp East Montana and the El Paso Service Processing Center in El Paso, Texas. Over nearly four months in custody, ICE denied her the surgery, provided only over-the-counter pain medication, and had her chained during her roughly one hour of daily outdoor time; a federal judge denied her habeas corpus petition and ICE twice denied her requests for humanitarian parole. She was released June 3, 2026, after Democratic Sen. Tina Smith personally intervened with a DHS official.

Part of: Operation Metro Surge (Twin Cities ICE Surge)

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
El Paso, Texas

Abuses documented

Actors

On February 5, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Guatemalan asylum seeker Andrea Pedro-Francisco, then 23, in Burnsville, Minnesota, during Operation Metro Surge, the roughly 3,000-agent ICE and Border Patrol deployment to the Twin Cities, days before a previously scheduled surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. She was flown to El Paso, Texas, before a lawyer could challenge her detention, and held first at Camp East Montana, a tent detention camp at Fort Bliss, and then at the El Paso Service Processing Center.

ICE did not allow Pedro-Francisco's scheduled cyst-removal surgery to proceed. In detention, a doctor confirmed the cyst but did not operate, and she said she received only Tylenol and ibuprofen despite a Minnesota doctor having prescribed opioids for the pain. She said officers chained detainees together during the roughly one hour a day they were allowed outside: "Nos encadenan como si hubieramos cometido un delito muy grave," she told the Minnesota Reformer in March — "They chain us as if we had committed a very serious crime. They treat us like animals." A federal judge in El Paso denied a habeas corpus petition her pro-bono attorneys filed seeking her release, and ICE twice denied requests for humanitarian parole, the second denial coming a day after Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., met with Pedro-Francisco during a congressional oversight visit to the facility.

The ACLU, ACLU of Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project, and Human Rights Watch separately sued ICE in May 2026 over conditions at Camp East Montana, alleging severe medical neglect, violent uses of force, and coercive threats of deportation.

Updates

2026-06-03 — ICE released Pedro-Francisco after Sen. Smith intervened [2][3]

ICE released Pedro-Francisco on June 3, 2026, days after Democratic Sen. Tina Smith personally called a senior DHS official to request it, following two prior ICE denials of humanitarian parole and a federal judge's denial of her habeas corpus petition. A DHS spokesperson did not answer questions about why ICE reversed course.

Why we recorded this

Government custody carries a duty to provide adequate medical care and humane conditions, and immigration detention is not exempt from that duty. ICE arrested Andrea Pedro-Francisco days before a scheduled surgery for a potentially life-threatening ovarian cyst, then canceled the surgery, gave her only over-the-counter pain relief for months, and had her chained during recreation time — conditions that continued through a denied habeas petition and two denied requests for humanitarian parole, ending only when a U.S. senator personally intervened with a DHS official. This archive records when the ordinary review channels inside the immigration-detention system failed to secure basic medical care, leaving personal political intervention as the last resort.

Sources

  1. 'No me rendire tan facilmente': tras cuatro meses detenida, comienza su lucha por obtener asilo — Minnesota Reformer primary accessed July 28, 2026
  2. ICE releases Andrea Pedro-Francisco, woman with large ovarian cyst, from Texas detention center — Minnesota Reformer investigative accessed July 28, 2026
  3. Minnesota woman released from ICE detention in El Paso after 4 months — El Paso Matters investigative accessed July 28, 2026
  4. Legal Organizations File Lawsuit Over Immigration Detention Conditions at Camp East Montana in El Paso's Fort Bliss Military Base — American Civil Liberties Union primary accessed July 28, 2026

See also