Burnsville resident Andrea Pedro-Francisco has been in federal immigration detention for more than two months with a life-threatening ovarian cyst that causes her constant pain.
DFL state Senators Lindsey Port and Alice Mann, religious leaders and other elected officials gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol Thursday morning to demand that federal officials grant her humanitarian parole and immediately release her from custody. She was being held at the El Paso Processing Center in Texas, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, as of Thursday afternoon.
“Every day that passes, she is more at risk of permanent harm or death,” said Port, who represents Burnsville.
Pedro-Francisco, 23, was arrested on Feb. 5 while on her way to work, just days before a scheduled surgery to remove the tennis ball-sized cyst. She and her mother are asylum seekers, and immigrated to the United States from Guatemala in 2019.
According to U.S. Representative Angie Craig: Pedro-Francisco is suffering from pain, bleeding and lightheadedness. She has been taken to an emergency room in Texas, where doctors confirmed she needs surgery. Craig, who was in Washington D.C. for key congressional votes, shared a video message at Thursday’s news conference, and has been communicating with federal officials on Pedro-Francisco’s behalf.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is a life-or-death situation. It has been for weeks, and ICE needs to be treating it like one,” she said in her video. “Andrea doesn’t deserve any of this. No one does.”
Pedro-Francisco has no criminal history and came to the United States at age 16 seeking asylum. She has lived and worked in Minnesota for seven years.
She is one of about 530 Minnesota detainees who were still held in Texas facilities as of early March, according to Sahan Journal’s analysis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data. Approximately 3,400 people detained by federal immigration agents in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge were transferred to detention centers in Texas.
Pedro-Francisco has been seen by medical staff seven times at Camp East Montana, an ICE detention facility in El Paso, Texas. She has also been evaluated three times at a local behavioral health center, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“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,” read the government’s statement.
The DHS statement also said that ICE provides “comprehensive medical care,” including vaccines, mental health services and 24-hour emergency care.
Craig, a Democrat, urged Minnesotans to call their local elected officials, especially Republicans, and ask them to support Pedro-Francisco’s immediate release.
She also mentioned a bill she introduced in early February to establish standards of care for detainees in ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) custody. H.R. 7335, also known as the Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in ICE and CBP Custody Act, would require the federal agencies to conduct timely, in-person medical screenings and “ensure humanitarian standards.”
“I’m not going to let a constituent die on my watch, not if I can try, not on account of this cruel and vindictive president who has targeted our community for his own political retribution,” Craig said in her video.
Shortly after Pedro-Francisco’s arrest, her attorney at the time filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court in Texas asking a judge to release her from custody, said Ruby Powers, her current attorney. U.S. District Judge Leon Schydlower denied the request.
Powers filed a new request with ICE for humanitarian parole that requests releasing Pedro-Francisco so she can seek urgent medical care. Pedro-Francisco’s next hearing is scheduled for late May, but it’s unclear when the federal government will rule on the humanitarian parole request, Powers said.
“We’re hoping it will be soon due to the seriousness of her medical condition,” she said.
Pedro-Francisco’s cyst could rupture, and could be fatal, said Senator Alice Mann (DFL-Edina), who is an emergency room doctor. The cyst could also be cancerous and could harm her fertility, she added.
Powers said federal officials denied Pedro-Francisco’s request to sleep on the bottom of a three-level bunk bed in the detention facility, so “it takes all her strength to get to the top.” Powers also said Pedro-Francisco told her federal officers are telling her that her cyst doesn’t exist.
Pedro-Francisco has also recently reported seeing an increase in bleeding, she added.
“She loves playing music with her church. She’s very devoted to her family and she’s a strong wise soul,” said Powers, who frequently communicates with Pedro-Francisco on the phone. “You can tell that she’s a very good person, and she’s just confused why she’s not being provided the surgery.”
Mann said she doesn’t want to see Pedro-Francisco added to the list of ICE detainees who have died in custody. At least 32 people have died in ICE custody between January 2025 and March 2026, the highest in a single year since the Department of Homeland Security launched in March 2003, according to the New York Times.
“The concern is of course that one day Andrea’s going to say, ‘I have worsening pain, my pain is worse today,’ and she will not be taken seriously as we have seen over and over and over again from people in detention,” Mann said. “The federal government is putting this young woman’s life on the line.”
