Lactating Across Borders

We’ve heard politicians say they want to protect families. We’ve heard officials insist that deportations target “the worst of the worst.” But what about stories like Heidy Sanchez Tejeda’s?

She’s not a criminal. She didn’t cross the border illegally. She didn’t evade authorities. She checked in with ICE regularly, just like she was told to. She had a work permit. She was married to a U.S. citizen. She was caring for her baby girl in Tampa. And yet, she was suddenly detained and deported to Cuba in less than 48 hours, all while doing everything by the book. All while she held her baby, who cried for her, who held on to her mom for dear life.

Now, Heidy is stuck in Cuba, and her one-year-old daughter is in Florida. The baby, still breastfeeding, has lost her mother’s touch at the most critical stage of her development.

And Heidy? She’s still lactating. She pumps milk meant for her daughter daily and throws it away.

Let that sink in: a mother, producing milk her baby needs, forced to pour it down the drain because she’s been banished from the country where her baby lives.

This isn’t just a tragic story. It’s a moral failure. And it’s happening right now, while we look away.

Heidy’s story has gone viral, and for good reason. The image of her storing breast milk in Cuba, unable to do the one most natural, human thing: feed her child, it’s a reminder that immigration policy isn’t just about borders or paperwork. It’s about people. It’s about babies and mothers.

There was no threat here. No violence. No harm. Just a woman trying to navigate a complicated system while raising a child. And the system responded with cruelty.

The message it sent?

That even if you follow the rules, you can still be torn from your family with no warning, no mercy.

Her husband, a U.S. citizen, is now raising their daughter alone. He’s trying to soothe a baby who doesn’t understand why her mother isn’t there. He’s trying to speak up, to keep their story alive.

But this isn’t just one family. Heidy is one of nearly 800 people arrested under “Operation Tidal Wave,” a sweeping immigration crackdown in Florida.

These numbers are being celebrated as success stories. But behind every one is a broken household, a scared child, a grieving parent.

These are not statistics. These are lives. And yet, somehow, we’ve normalized this.

We’ve allowed ourselves to look away until someone like Heidy posts a video showing what family separation really looks like.

We need to stop pretending this is okay.

We need to stop pretending this isn't an injustice. This country has to decide what it values more: political theater or human dignity.

And if we truly believe in family, then we cannot look at Heidy’s story and stay silent. Here’s what you can do to help:

• Call your congressional representatives.

• Demand oversight and accountability in immigration enforcement.

• Support organizations like the Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network, the ACLU, or others working to reunite families on the ground.

• Share Heidy’s story.

  
  

Help turn outrage into action because no parent should be punished for loving their child.

Photo Credit:

[Header]- Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network