Ms. Maria Perez* was arrested without a warrant by ICE while taking both of her children to the doctor. Ms. Perez is mother to a ten-month-old, whom she is breastfeeding, and a two-year-old with Down syndrome. Her arrest violates ICE’s own Directive 11032.4, which states that the agency should not “detain, arrest, or continue to detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum or nursing” except under exceptional circumstances.
Ms. Perez is now at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, nearly seven hundred miles away from her infant daughter and special needs toddler, who requires intensive, ongoing medical treatment and therapy for multiple health complications. With their mother forcibly removed, the children have missed their critical medical appointments and are now in the care of a neighbor, as Ms. Perez has no other support network in the area. She is currently suffering the physical effects of suddenly being unable to nurse, made worse by diabetes, which she had been actively managing before she was detained.
Ms. Perez is seeking asylum from Guatemala as a survivor of severe domestic violence. She has no criminal history and has complied with every requirement in the immigration process since entering the United States in 2022.
Sanctuary of the South (SOS) and Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), Ms. Argueta’s legal counsel, have partnered with the ACLU of Louisiana, the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center, and Amnesty International to submit a formal complaint to the Department of Homeland Security, urging the immediate release of Ms. Perez, and reiterating a commitment to pursuing all legal avenues to reunite her with her children, and seek relief for the profound harm the family has suffered as a result of their separation.
“SOS denounces the cruelty and complete lack of humanity in ICE’s decision to separate mother from children, especially nursing mothers from babies at such a tender age,” said Katie Blankenship, founder and managing attorney at SOS. “Being held in detention threatens Maria’s right to due process and is an unnecessary act of violence towards an immigrant mother and survivor of domestic violence. Families across the country share similar traumatic stories. We condemn family separation by ICE and demand Ms. Perez’s immediate release, so she may return to her children who so desperately need her.”
Spring Miller, Senior Director of Legal Strategy at TIRRC, added: “ICE and DHS continue to show blatant disregard not just for their own policies but for basic humanity. Ripping a nursing mother from her vulnerable children and shipping her to another state is almost unimaginable, yet ICE has turned a blind eye to their own directives and has done just that to Maria. Her case demonstrates the extraordinary cruelty these agencies inflict on people every day, and the multiple points at which people in detention are denied access to due process. We demand the immediate release of Ms. Perez to her children and condemn the countless ways ICE and DHS continue to separate families across the country.”
Ms. Perez’s case has drawn condemnation from major human rights and civil liberties organizations across the country, who have joined SOS and TIRRC in demanding her immediate release.
“The government’s continued torture of women is patently outrageous,” said Nora Ahmed, legal director for the ACLU of Louisiana. “Every person who claims to care about family values in this nation should be up in arms over these atrocious abuses. Why would ICE violate its own rules just to target a nursing mother who has followed all the legal steps of the immigration system? ICE has destroyed a family in the process and is directly responsible for putting children’s lives at risk. Everyone, regardless of political beliefs, should be outraged on behalf of Ms. Perez.”
“ICE snatched Maria from her nursing baby and shipped her to a detention center hundreds of miles from home,” said Anthony Enriquez, VP of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center. “This cruel and degrading treatment of new mothers and pregnant women has been repeated hundreds of times over the last two years. We call on ICE to immediately release Maria.”
“To have your children taken from you is a parent’s worst nightmare,” said Amy Fischer, Director for Refugee and Migrant Rights, Amnesty International USA. “That’s what ICE agents did when they took Maria’s children from her, traumatizing all of them. Maria is still nursing her two children, one of whom has special needs. What ICE is doing in communities throughout the U.S. is cruel, inhumane, pointless, and against the law. Maria, and all parents, should be able to care for their children and go about their daily lives without fear of being forcibly separated. This cruelty must end. ICE must release Maria and ensure she is back with her children, and stop wreaking havoc in our communities.”
* Pseudonym used to protect the client’s safety
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