‘She Just Kept Crying, ‘Mama, Mama’: Latina Mothers Are Being Deported — And the Videos Are Everywhere. Here’s What You Can Do

The sound of a toddler calling for her mother through a phone screen. A cancer-stricken four-year-old deported without his medication. A woman giving birth under government surveillance, only to be expelled days later with her newborn. These are not scenes from a dystopian novel. They are happening now to Latina mothers in the United States.

Social media is flooded with devastating videos of mothers sobbing as ICE agents hand their babies over to strangers. Their stories are harrowing, often unfolding at routine ICE check-ins, where instead of a signature, they get a one-way ticket out of the country—and sometimes, out of their children’s lives.

This Latina Mom Was Separated From Her Breastfeeding Daughter

According to NBC News, Heidy Sánchez, a Cuban immigrant and mother of a 17-month-old U.S. citizen with seizures, was deported from Tampa to Havana after a surprise ICE check-in.

Sánchez was still breastfeeding her daughter when she showed up at her April 22 appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She was detained on the spot. Officers told her to find someone to pick up her baby, then handed the child to a lawyer and escorted Sánchez away without letting her say goodbye to her husband, Carlos Valle.

From a rooftop in Havana, she now sends WhatsApp lullabies. “My daughter tells me over the phone, ‘Come, mama.’ And when she cries, she just keeps saying, ‘Mama, mama, mama,’” Sánchez told NBC. “It’s overwhelming … I can’t even sleep at night.”

Her attorney, Claudia Cañizares, said ICE ignored attempts to file a stay of removal. By the time her team returned to the office to submit the paperwork, Sánchez had already been deported.

Latina Mothers Say They Had No Choice

While Trump officials insist that parents are given the “option” to take their children or leave them with a guardian, attorneys say that’s not how these deportations are going down.

According to The Guardian, two Latina mothers deported to Honduras with their U.S. citizen children weren’t allowed to call lawyers or arrange for alternate custody. One was pregnant. One of the kids had late-stage cancer. Both mothers were detained in isolation during regular ICE check-ins and removed within 72 hours.

“There were no real decisions being made here,” said immigration attorney Gracie Willis. “They didn’t have an opportunity to talk this through, to weigh the pros and cons of taking or leaving their children in the U.S.”

Some Latina Mothers Were Deported Just Days After Giving Birth

According to the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, four women were deported in 2020 just days after giving birth in San Diego-area hospitals. Their newborns were U.S. citizens. The moms were denied the chance to request asylum, consult legal counsel, or arrange care for their older children.

In one case, Border Patrol agents surveilled a woman through labor and delivery, then deported her with no postpartum medication or support. The complaint calls the experience “extraordinary trauma,” both for the mothers and their children.

In Louisiana, a Judge Warned that a 2-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Was Deported Without Process

A federal judge in Louisiana, Terry Doughty, raised the alarm after a toddler known as V.M.L. was deported to Honduras with her undocumented mother. “We have a strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process,” he wrote in a court order, according to Politico.

ICE presented a handwritten note in Spanish, allegedly signed by the mother, stating she would take the child. But the father had been trying to retain custody, and legal representatives argued the mother was coerced.

Latina Mothers With Critically Ill Children Are Being Expelled Too

In one case reported by NBC News and The Hill, a Honduran mother was deported with her 4-year-old son undergoing treatment for stage 4 cancer. She didn’t get to speak with her lawyer or family before the removal. The boy left the U.S. without medication.

Another case in Florida involved a mother whose daughter has a rare metabolic disorder. Her deportation was only paused because the girl’s passport was expired.

Bridgette M. Bennett, the family’s attorney, told NBC, “We couldn’t even file a stay because they said, ‘We’ve given you four of them already.’”

A Venezuelan Mother Was Deported After a Traffic Stop in Arizona

According to Arizona Luminaria, Venezuelan mother Yesenia was detained in Tucson for driving under the speed limit. Border Patrol officers took her and two of her four children into custody and deported them to southern Mexico. Her remaining children, ages 8 and 14, were left behind in Arizona.

Yesenia says Border Patrol agents denied her requests to see or contact her other kids, despite her fears of cartel violence in Mexico. “They said, ‘That’s not our problem,’” she recalled.

Even U.S. Citizen Children Are Being Swept Up in the Chaos

Though officials like Tom Homan argue that these children aren’t being deported—just “going with their parents”—attorneys say the distinction is misleading.

Danny Woodward, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, told The Hill, “What happened in this case is that the parents were repeatedly pressured to sign deportation papers … [and told] take your children back to Mexico or hand them over to government custody and you will never see them again.”

Families like the Hernandezes, whose daughter recently had a brain tumor removed, were removed to cartel-dominated regions. She can’t access medical care or enroll in school.

This Is What Happens When Deportation Gets Fast-Tracked

Many of these families were complying with ICE check-ins. They weren’t fugitives. They were showing up on time, hoping their cases might one day be reopened.

But as advocacy groups told The Guardian, “It’s not a meaningful choice when you’re isolated, denied access to counsel, and handed a form in a language you don’t understand.”

The result? Latina mothers are being ripped from their U.S. citizen children. Sick babies are being deported without medicine. Breastfeeding moms are forced to send lullabies from a rooftop in another country.

And the worst part? It’s happening in silence—until someone records it.

If you or someone you know has experienced family separation during a deportation, resources and legal support are available through organizations like the National Immigration Project and the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project.