More than a year after being deported to Cuba and separated from her young daughter in Florida, Heidy Sánchez Tejeda is still unable to return to the United States, despite the family petition submitted by her husband being approved in June 2025.
«A year has already passed. I've given interviews to every network around the world. All of them. And nothing has happened!», the Cuban stated in the report Náufragos en La Habana, published by El Faro, a Central American outlet specializing in investigative and in-depth journalism, which was founded in El Salvador in 1998 and was the first native internet newspaper in Latin America.
The work of El Faro found Heidy in San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, where she currently resides. When the journalists visited her, her daughter was temporarily with her in Cuba. The girl had traveled with her paternal grandmother and was supposed to return a few days later to the United States, where she usually lives with her father.
Heidy remains separated from her husband, Carlos Yuniel Valle, a Cuban who has become a naturalized U.S. citizen and resides in Florida, with whom she married in January 2022.
The Cuban woman stated that she continues to try to progress in the process that would allow her to reunite permanently with her family.
"The family reunification request has already been approved. What’s happening? I went to the office. I went to the embassy. They are asking me for evidence of my relationship with Carlos," she explained.
Heidy showed El Faro a folder with photographs and documents that trace the couple's history: from their courtship and marriage to pregnancy, ultrasounds, and the birth of their daughter.
"They are asking me to bring evidence of the relationship again, which they didn't want to see. I'm already tired of so many interviews and documents. And nothing happens! A year has passed and there's no response," she lamented.
A separation that began in April 2025
The case of Heidy has been widely covered by CiberCuba since April 2025.
The Cuban woman had arrived in the United States in 2019 and was under immigration supervision with an I-220B form and a deportation order. In the meantime, she had built her life in Florida, where she married Valle and had her daughter through in vitro fertilization.
On April 24, 2025, Heidy was deported to Cuba after being in ICE custody during a immigration appointment in Tampa. Her husband and daughter remained in the United States.
The little girl was about a year and a half old at the time and was still being breastfed by her mother, according to the testimonies published at that time and the new account provided by Heidy.
In her conversation with El Faro, the Cuban woman recalled the moment when the agents informed her that she would be deported.
"Then they told me: 'You are in the custody of ICE. The girl is American, she is leaving, but you are staying, you will be deported to Cuba.' That's how it went," she recounted.
According to her testimony, the separation happened immediately, and she was not even able to meet with her husband afterward.
"It feels terrible. That's when my world fell apart, my soul left my body. Having to separate from the girl, who was a year and a half old," he recalled.
The approval that sparked hope
In June 2025, what then seemed like good news for the family arrived: the family petition submitted by Carlos for his wife was approved.
That approval was merely the first step in a much longer process and did not mean that Heidy could immediately return to the United States.
The Cuban herself explained days later that she still did not have a visa and that she needed to continue the consular process, attend an interview, and process the necessary immigration waivers.
"I'm not in the United States yet; I'm in Cuba waiting for this to progress," Heidy said in June 2025.
More than a year later, the fundamental situation has not changed: she remains in Cuba while her husband and daughter have their permanent residence in Florida.
"Why can't Mom go to Tampa?"
The new report also shows how the family strives to maintain the bond between mother and daughter despite the distance.
Heidy explained that when the little one is in the United States, she stays in touch by phone about practically her entire daily routine, from when she wakes up and what she eats to the time she goes to bed.
"I have to sing to her so she can sleep at night and tell her a story," she said.
During the meeting with El Faro, Heidy asked her daughter why she couldn't go to Tampa. The little girl replied, "Because she is missing the paperwork."
According to the mother, the prolonged separation has also had emotional consequences for the girl and the family has sought specialized help.
"She has trauma. She always asks people, 'When are you leaving? Why are you leaving?' even if she has just met them. We are all talking to a specialist," said Heidy, who insists that the little girl shows fear when people leave.
The Cuban woman also described the impact of returning involuntarily to a country she had left years earlier in search of building a new life.
"I am not here. My mind and my heart are over there," he summarized.
While awaiting a migration solution, her goal remains unchanged after deportation: to return to Florida with her husband and daughter.
"The only thing that interests me is family reunification with my husband and my little girl," she stated.
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