Heidy Sánchez is a devoted mother from Tampa, Florida, who was deported to Cuba without her 17-month-old daughter. Her child is a U.S. citizen, still breastfeeding, and has a history of seizures.

Despite attending a routine ICE check-in with her daughter, Heidy was suddenly detained and forced to hand her baby over to a lawyer in the room. She wasn’t allowed to say goodbye. Her husband Carlos, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was waiting outside and wasn't permitted to comfort his wife or daughter during the traumatic separation.

Heidy never had the option to take her child with her. Now, from Havana, she sings lullabies to her daughter through a phone while the little girl cries for her mama every night.

This is not who we are. Heidy was in the process of seeking legal status through her husband. She was following the rules. But instead of compassion, she was met with cruelty.

Her daughter is suffering the most. She needs her mother, not WhatsApp videos and secondhand lullabies. Families should not be torn apart by a broken system.

We urge ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to grant humanitarian parole to Heidy Sánchez and allow her to return home to her family in Florida. Let this child have her mother back. Let Heidy hold her baby again.

Please sign and share this petition before more families are separated in silence.

Photo: Courtesy Carlos Valle