Crime & Law
Chicago Man Detained by ICE Whose Daughter Is Fighting Stage 4 Cancer Set to be Released From Custody
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle is pictured in Chicago in an image uploaded to social media by the agency on Sept. 8, 2025. (Credit: ICE)
Ruben Torres Maldonado, who was detained by immigration agents earlier this month and whose teenage daughter is fighting cancer, is set to be released from custody after a judge on Thursday granted him a bond.
Maldonado has been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Indiana, but will be able to leave as soon as Thursday after immigration Judge Eva Saltzman granted him a $2,000 bond.
“I appreciate that you’re anxious to return home and be with your family,” Saltzman said during a brief hearing Thursday morning.
Maldonado, a home renovator and painter who has lived in Chicago since 2003, was detained by ICE agents earlier this month at a Home Depot in Niles. Maldonado is a father of two children, 4-year-old Nathan and 16-year-old Ofelia Torres, who is currently undergoing treatment for Stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma cancer.
“I can’t wait to see my dad,” Torres said in a statement after the hearing. “We need him to be at home with me and our family.”
Maldonado’s attorney Kalman Resnick said that bond had been paid Thursday and Maldonado's family members were on their way to Indiana to pick him up.
According to a GoFundMe page created to help cover Maldonado’s legal fees, Maldonado was coming out of the Home Depot on Dempster Street in Niles with supplies for his job on Oct. 18 when ICE agents called out to Maldonado by name.
He attempted to ignore them and got in his car and locked the door. One of the ICE agents then started smashing the passenger side of his car and another agent pulled out a gun. Maldonado then got out of the car, where he was then forced on the ground and detained.
Maldonado was initially held at the ICE processing facility in suburban Broadview before he was moved to Indiana.
“I hope this case will motivate Americans to join together to support their immigrant neighbors and keep their families together,” Resnick said at a news conference Thursday.
In a video shared on social media raising awareness of her father’s detainment, Ofelia said, “My dad, like many other fathers, is a hardworking person who wakes up early in the morning and goes to work without complaining, thinking about his family. I find it so unfair that hardworking immigrant families are being targeted just because they were not born here.”
Ofelia Torres has been receiving cancer treatment at Lurie Children’s Hospital, but Resnick said her chemotherapy was put on hold due to a decline in her physical and emotional health after Maldonado was detained.
With his impending return, Resnick said he’s hopeful she will once again be able to continue that treatment.
Ruben Torres Maldonado’s wife Sandibell Hidalgo, left, who joined a news conference via Zoom alongside her daughter Ofelia Torres, right, on Oct. 22, 2025, spoke about the difficulty of taking care of a young toddler and daughter with medical needs on her own. (WTTW News)
The online fundraiser has collected more than $117,000 for the Maldonado family as of Thursday morning.
Resnick said he was gratified by the judge’s “humane and common sense decision” Thursday.
“We’re very pleased this story has a good middle,” Resnick said, “but the end of this story is going to be our fight to get permanent residency and a pathway to U.S. citizenship.”
Maldonado’s detention raised concerns from numerous elected officials statewide, including U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, who has called for a full investigation into ICE tactics amid concerns of racial profiling by federal agents during heightened immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday spoke about Maldonado’s case, saying immigration agents “illegally” took him into custody, preventing him from helping his family “when they needed him the most.”
“Families are being ripped apart, sometimes in the most heartbreaking of circumstances,” Pritzker said. “Remember, they keep telling us they are targeting the ‘worst of the worst.’ Instead, this is a father taken away from his daughter who is fighting cancer.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Saltzman noted that Maldonado has no criminal history beyond minor traffic infractions and has strong family and community ties in the area. She also said he is eligible to seek a cancellation of removal, which would allow him to remain in the U.S. as a lawful resident due to the hardship facing his family.
“I see that you have very strong incentive to appear for future hearings so that you can apply for this relief,” Saltzman said.
Eunice Alpasan contributed to this report.
