Burnsville woman in ICE detention can’t access lifesaving surgery, lawyer says
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A Burnsville woman could die if she’s not released from immigration detention for medical care, her lawyer warned on Monday.
Andrea Pedro-Francisco, 23, is originally from Guatemala and has lived with her family in Burnsville since 2019. She was arrested by immigration agents on her way to work in early February and sent to a detention center in El Paso, Texas, just days before she was scheduled for surgery to remove a large ovarian cyst.
At a press conference in Burnsville, Asra Syed said her client’s pain was so great that Pedro-Francisco’s doctor prescribed her an opioid before she was arrested. Syed said in detention Pedro-Francisco was given Tylenol as her cyst grew to the size of a tennis ball.
Syed said her client’s doctors “warn that the cyst is at risk of rupturing or cutting off her blood supply, conditions that can cause fatal internal bleeding, infection or the loss of her ovary.”
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Syed said over a video call with Pedro-Francisco in February, Pedro Francisco said her pain was so excruciating that she was taken to the emergency room. A doctor agreed she needed surgery, but wouldn’t perform it while she was in detention.
“Andrea also told me that since that event, the pain in her body was growing, stretching across her abdomen and back, so severe she couldn't sleep through it. At times, she was experiencing hot flashes, at other times, shivers, and also waves of faintness so extreme she feared falling,” Syed told reporters.
The health research organization KFF analyzed federal data on deaths in immigration detention and found since President Donald Trump resumed the presidency in January, 2025, more than 40 people have died in ICE custody. The analysis also showed that the number of deaths in 2025 “exceeded the highest seen in over two decades, and deaths in 2026 are on track to meet or exceed that number.”
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig represents Burnsville and spoke about Pedro-Francisco’s case alongside the woman’s attorney.
“For over a month, my office has been going back and forth with ICE officials about Andrea's condition,” Craig said Monday. “We have been ignored, put off, and frankly, lied to about the treatment she has received while in detention.”
Craig added that Pedro-Francisco is just one of about 20 of her constituents she is aware of who are currently in immigration detention and one of five severe medical cases. “It’s now only four because of the individual who had to self deport in order to get the dialysis that he needed,” Craig said.
In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed Pedro-Francisco was taken to the emergency room during her detention and said “she has been seen by medical staff on-site seven times” and provided “pain medication.”
The statement also read: “ICE maintains longstanding practices to provide comprehensive medical care, including access to vaccines, medical, dental, and mental health services, as well as medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. This is the best health care that many individuals have received in their lives.”
DHS did not respond to questions asking whether Pedro-Francisco would be released or how the agency determines if a detainee should be released for emergency medical care.
On April 2, U.S. District Judge Leon Schydlower denied the habeas corpus petition Syed filed on Pedro-Francisco’s behalf asking for her release.
When Syed spoke to her client over video in February, Pedro-Francisco said she missed singing in her local church and missed her family. “She cried when talking about being in detention for one of their birthdays,” Syed said.
Syed said the only option left is asking ICE to release Pedro-Francisco on humanitarian grounds. Amnesty International has organized a letter-writing campaign on Pedro-Francisco’s behalf.
