HAVANA (AP) — Ten times a day for the past two weeks, Heidy Sánchez has made the same two-block trek from her parents’ home in Havana looking for an internet signal to video call her family and sing her daughter to sleep. And every single time she has ended up crying.
Cuban-born Sánchez, 44, was detained in Florida in April during a routine check-in appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, office. Two days later, she was deported to Cuba.
A breastfeeding mother to a 1-year-old and wife of a U.S. citizen, Sánchez is pleading with U.S. President Donald Trump to help her go back and reunite with her family.
“To president (Trump) who has a family, he says he believes in God, and I believe in God too...I would like him to put his hand on his heart and please help us reunite our family," she told The Associated Press. "My baby is little, she needs me.”
Sánchez's story has raised questions among lawyers and activists about the Trump’s administration crackdown against illegal immigration, including who is being deported, the legal basis for people's removal and if the expulsions have followed the proper procedures.
ICE didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has made it a top priority to deport about 1.4 million people who have been ordered by a judge to leave the country, arguing that they have exhausted all avenues to a legal challenge regardless of individual circumstances.
Sánchez broke out in tears several times while looking at family photos of her baby and husband. “I am physically and mentally destroyed," she said. “My world has collapsed and my life is over.”
Sánchez arrived at the southern border of the United States in 2019, among hundreds of thousands of Cuban immigrants. She appeared before a judge once without problems but was late for her second appointment.
By the time Sánchez finally appeared before the judge, he had signed a deportation order for non-compliance. Despite this, she was allowed to stay, although she spent nine months in an immigration detention center.
After her release, Sánchez got her life back on track. She went to school and started working as a nursing assistant.
In 2021, she married Carlos Yuniel Valle, an American citizen and entrepreneur from Tampa, and after two rounds of in vitro fertilization, their daughter Kailyn was born in November 2023.
“We were very happy,” she said.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Sánchez’s 40-year-old husband is grappling with the sudden reality of being a single parent.
He recounted a moment when Kailyn didn't want to sleep and her mom, on a video call, suggested she sing her a song to help put her to bed.
“When she started to sing, the girl began reaching out to touch the screen to caress her mother's face,” he said. “She began to kiss the screen...I started crying and so did her mother.”
Valle is also concerned about his future, missing work to care for their child and fearing he’ll be unable to keep up with his house and car payments.
The family and their lawyers are launching a campaign to collect signatures in support of a humanitarian visa for Sánchez, and Tampa Rep. Kathy Castor has requested her parole from the Trump administration.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Heidy Sánchez, who was deported from the US to Cuba, holds photos of her daughter and husband, a US citizen, at her home in Havana, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Luis Baños)
Heidy Sánchez, who was deported from the US to Cuba, video chats her daughter and husband, a US citizen, from her home in Havana, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Luis Baños)
Heidy Sánchez, who was deported from the US to Cuba, cries while showing photos of her daughter and husband, a US citizen, at her home in Havana, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Luis Baños)
Iran's top judge hinted at fast trials and executions for those who were detained in nationwide protests against the country's theocracy, even as activists said Wednesday that the death toll rose to levels unseen in decades with at least 2,572 people killed so far.
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei made the comments about trials and executions in a video Tuesday, despite a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that he would “take very strong action” if executions take place.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the number of dead climbed to at least 2,571 early Wednesday. The figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
After Trump was informed on the number of deaths, he warned Iran's leaders that he was terminating any negotiations and would “act accordingly.”
Details of the crackdown began emerging Tuesday as Iranians made phone calls abroad for the first time in days after authorities severed communications countrywide when the protests broke out.
Here is the latest:
Major Middle East governments were discouraging the Trump administration from waging a war with Iran, fearing “unprecedented consequences” in the volatile region, an Arab Gulf diplomat said Wednesday.
The Cairo-based diplomat, who was given anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media, said major governments in the region including Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabai and Pakistan have been “in constant contact” with the U.S. administration over a potential American strike on Iran that could explode into a “full-blown war.”
Such a war will “certainly” have dire repercussions “not only on the Middle East but also on the global economy," he said.
Samy Magdy contributed from Cairo.
Iranian state television said Wednesday’s mass funeral in Tehran would include 300 bodies of security force members and civilians. The funeral is expected to take place at Tehran University under heavy security.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which is tracking the death toll, said more than 2,550 people have been killed, 2,403 protesters and 147 government-affiliated.
Twelve children were killed, along with nine civilians it said were not taking part in protests. More than 18,100 people have been detained, the group said.
Gauging the demonstrations and the death toll from abroad has grown more difficult and The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll given the communications being disrupted in the country.
Melanie Lidman contributed from Jerusalem.
Trump’s decision to impose a 25% tariff on countries that trade with Iran could impact India, an expert said, as New Delhi already faces existing 50% U.S. trade levies due its purchases of Russian oil.
Abhijit Mukhopadhyay, a senior economist at the Chintan Research Foundation in New Delhi, said the bigger risk is not India-Iran trade, but India’s access to the U.S. market as its exports to Iran are modest.
India mainly exports rice, tea, sugar, pharmaceuticals and electrical machinery to Iran, while importing dry fruits and chemical products. Textiles and garments, gems and jewelry and engineering goods are likely to be the most vulnerable sectors, he said.
Trump’s latest move also could affect India’s investments in Iran including the strategically important Chabahar port, which gives India a trade route to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe while bypassing Pakistan, Mukhopadhyay said.
Iran’s judiciary chief signals fast trials and executions for those detained in nationwide protests.
Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei made the comment in a video shared by Iranian state television on Wednesday.
He emphasized the need for swift action, saying delays would lessen the impact.
His remarks challenge Trump, who warned Iran about executions in an interview aired Tuesday.
Trump stated the U.S. would take strong action if Iran proceeded with executions. The situation highlights escalating tensions between the two countries over the handling of the protests.
Dozens of Pakistani students studying in Iran have returned home through a remote southwestern border crossing, a Pakistani immigration official said Wednesday.
Federal Investigation Agency spokesperson in Quetta city, Samina Raisani, said about 60 students crossed into Pakistan on Tuesday through Gabd border in Balochistan province with valid travel documents.
More students were expected to return through the same crossing later Wednesday, she said.
Mudassir Tipu, Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran, said Tuesday that Iranian universities had rescheduled exams and permitted international students to leave the country.
The satellite internet provider Starlink now offers free service in to people Iran who have access to the company's receivers, activists said Wednesday.
Mehdi Yahyanejad, a Los Angeles-based activist who helped get the units into Iran, told The Associated Press that the free service had started. Other activists also confirmed in messages online that the service was free.
Starlink has been the only way for Iranians to communicate with the outside world since authorities shut down the internet Thursday night as nationwide protests swelled and they began a bloody crackdown against demonstrators.
Starlink did not immediately acknowledge the decision.
This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)
