Husband Fighting for Answers After Breastfeeding Wife Among 82 Cubans Abruptly Deported Last Week

A Florida father is speaking out after his breastfeeding wife was abruptly deported back to Cuba.

Heidy Sánchez, 44, a Hillsborough County resident, was among 82 Cubans deported from Miami on Thursday, her husband, Carlos Yuniel Valle, told the Miami Herald. “The baby is distressed and does not want to eat,” Valle said. “Imagine, they ripped the child from her mother’s arms at the immigration office; the cries of that woman in there could be heard back in Cuba.”

Sánchez, who arrived in the U.S. in 2019 and married Valle, a U.S. citizen, was wearing detention center clothes during a video call from Havana. “I am here at the store trying to buy things so that I can send her a package with toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, sanitary pads, and clothes,” Valle said.

Sánchez’s nightmare began Tuesday when she was detained at an ICE check-in. Her attorney, Claudia Cañizares, said ICE “did everything possible to remove her,” even hiding her location. Despite frantic efforts, including a last-minute stay of removal filed at the Miramar ICE office, officials said Sánchez had already been deported.

Cañizares explained Sánchez had an I-220B document, requiring check-ins but not immediate removal. Valle said their daughter, born via IVF after costly treatments, was born premature and now suffers seizures.

“Separating a mother from a child who’s only one year old when she is in the middle of a legal process? Where are human rights in this country?” Valle said, describing Sánchez breaking into tears during a video call.