Nursing Nashville mom reunited with kids 3 months after ICE arrest

An asylum seeker from Guatemala, she had not seen or spoken with her children since being detained by immigration agents at her home on May 19 as she was packing them into the car to head to an early morning doctor’s appointment. 

They reunited nearly three months later at the home of a neighbor who had volunteered to care for the kids. Her 2-year-old-daughter was “very angry,” she said in an interview with the Tennessee Lookout. She asked that her name be withheld due to fear of retaliation.

“She thought her mom left her behind, that I abandoned them,” the woman said of her eldest daughter, who has Down syndrome and a history of chronic medical conditions.

“The baby,” she said, breaking into tears when referring to her 1-year-old daughter, “The baby, I think … I felt … she knew I was her mom.”

Seeing her daughters again was all she thought about during her nearly three months of detention. Seeing them again almost didn’t feel real, she said.

“I was thinking it was a dream, that I wasn’t here,” she said. “My mind was foggy, blurry, but every time I was holding them and crying and touching them and kissing, I was still thinking it was a dream and I wasn’t there, that it wasn’t true.”

ICE policy bars detention of nursing mothers

The woman was released from the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center on Aug. 14 after a group of human rights organizations intervened. The woman’s partner remains detained at an immigration facility in Oklahoma.

In a complaint filed with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, the organizations alleged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated its own policy against detaining pregnant, postpartum and nursing parents, and facilitating visits with children.

The policy says ICE must make an effort to arrange, upon written requests, visits with a minor child within the first 30 days of detention. It also states that the agency may only detain nursing, pregnant and postpartum parents under narrow “exceptional circumstances” such as risks to national security or an imminent threat to others.

ICE separated nursing mom from infant, toddler in Nashville, against its own rules, advocates say

The complaint demands that federal officials confirm in writing whether they contend any exceptional circumstances apply to the woman, who has no criminal record and was arrested as immigration agents were serving a federal warrant to her partner. The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, Southern Poverty Law Center, Sanctuary of the South, Amnesty International, the Kennedy Human Rights Center and ACLU of Louisiana signed the complaint.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday did not directly respond to a question about the status of the complaint. Instead, the spokesperson provided an identical statement it released when the woman’s detention was first made public in May.

“Pregnant and nursing women in ICE detention are exceedingly rare. When this occurs, the women receive regular prenatal visits, mental health services, nutritional support, and accommodations aligned with community standards of care,” the statement said.

“This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to necessary medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.”

‘I feel like too many doors — they are closing’

Immigrant and reproductive rights advocates nationwide have accused the agency of routinely flouting its own policies against detaining pregnant, postpartum and nursing mothers. The rules were repealed in 2017 during the first Trump administration before being reinstated by the Biden administration in 2021 and remain in place today. 

ICE has declined to release data on the number of pregnant, postpartum and nursing mothers in its custody, according to Anthony Enriquez, vice president of U.S. advocacy and litigation for the Kennedy Human Rights Center, which represents two individuals challenging their detention under the rules.

In response to a demand for data earlier this year by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington State, ICE provided snapshot data in February that showed there were 86 pregnant women, 35 postpartum women and 15 nursing women in ICE detention as of Feb. 16.

The data includes women in 23 detention centers served by the ICE Health Services Corps, a medical provider. It does not include pregnant, postpartum and nursing detainees at more than 200 other immigration detention centers whose medical care is provided by private contractors, including at the Louisiana detention center where the mother of two was detained.

Attorneys for the woman greeted her release with relief, but criticized her confinement — and that of other pregnant, postpartum and nursing women — as “unlawful.”

“The harm inflicted on this family was pointless, unlawful, and has created wounds they will carry for years to come,” said Katie Blankenship, managing attorney for Sanctuary of the South, in a statement.

“The cruelty of the Trump Administration is unforgivable … there are thousands of mothers and children suffering the same fate,” the statement said.

Last week, the woman said while she is relieved to be with her children, day-to-day life is “very, very difficult right now.”

“I don’t have my partner and he was the provider because I was taking care of my kids,” she said. “My friend is supporting me with everything right now.”

Her 2 year old has missed medical and therapy appointments because she does not drive and she worries about how much longer she will be able to remain a burden on her friend, she said.

“I feel like too many doors — they are closing. I feel trapped that I cannot find the light,” she said. “But I believe in God and truly think he can help. I’m working hard. We came to this country to work hard, to provide our kids a better life. We didn’t come here to suffer more than we suffered in our countries.”

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