gilmermirror.com: https://www.gilmermirror.com/2026/05/20/doctors-say-woman-in-el-paso-ice-detention-center-urgently-requires-surgery-that-she-is-being-denied/

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Doctors say woman in El Paso ICE detention center urgently requires surgery that she is being denied – The Gilmer Mirror Skip to content Breaking News JIM "PAPPY" MOORE: A Savings State of Mind Video: Gilmer High School Graduation - 2026 East Texans for Liberty holds Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Dinner Historic Upshur Museum presents Sam Houston: Texas Icon Texas Weekly Gas Price Update Contact Us E-Edition Subscribe Archives Twitter Email Menu Home News Sports Obituaries E-Edition Subscribe Photos Events Crossword Regional News Texas News Gilmer Buckeyes News Gilmer News Church Directory Classifieds Public Notices | logout Doctors say woman in El Paso ICE detention center urgently requires surgery that she is being denied By Editor | May 20, 2026 | 0 By Lomi Kriel, The Texas Tribune May 20, 2026 The 911 call came two days after immigration agents detained the 23-year-old Guatemalan woman in Minnesota as she was driving her mother and two young siblings to their jobs cleaning houses. “Excruciating pain,” the employee at the El Paso immigrant detention facility reported. Emergency responders rushed Andrea Pedro Francisco to the hospital from Camp East Montana on Feb. 7 — just four days before she had been scheduled to receive surgery to remove an ovarian cyst about the size of a lime that had caused her months of intense abdominal pain. Physicians discharged Pedro Francisco back to the Camp East Montana detention facility with written warnings that if she experienced certain symptoms, including pain in her back, hip, stomach or while urinating, that she should urgently obtain critical care. Yet in the four months that followed, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials repeatedly denied Pedro Francisco surgery — or even outside medical opinion to confirm that she does not need it. Pedro Francisco has continued to suffer from excruciating pain, but has primarily been treated with over-the-counter medication such as Ibuprofen to manage her pain. By contrast, eight OB-GYNs and an emergency physician who specializes in detainee care reviewed 200 pages of Pedro Fancisco’s medical records shared with The Texas Tribune and agreed that she is at “high risk” for a medical emergency and urgently requires surgery. The experts said that her treatment in ICE detention amounts to medical malpractice because it fails to provide the industry’s standard of care and contradicts what external doctors recommended. Andrea Pedro Francisco, 23, has lived in Minnesota since 2019 and for years has suffered increasing abdominal pain. In January, doctors said she needs surgery for an overian cyst. Then ICE agents detained her. If Pedro Francisco does not have that operation, experts warn that she could lose the ability to have children or suffer from other serious health complications. The doctors also said the cyst needs to be screened for cancer. Ovarian cancer, dubbed the “silent killer” because its symptoms can be hard to diagnose, is the fifth-leading 

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• kvia.com: https://kvia.com/news/2026/05/20/doctors-say-woman-in-el-paso-ice-detention-center-urgently-requires-surgery-that-she-is-being-denied/ 2026-05-21
• krgv.com: https://www.krgv.com/news/doctors-say-woman-in-el-paso-ice-detention-center-urgently-requires-surgery-that-she-is-being-denied/ 2026-05-21
• tpr.org: https://www.tpr.org/news/2026-05-20/doctors-say-woman-in-el-paso-ice-detention-center-urgently-requires-surgery-that-she-is-being-denied 2026-05-21
• texastribune.org: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/20/el-paso-camp-east-montana-detention-ovarian-cyst-surgery-medical-neglect/ 2026-05-20