'This has destroyed her': ICE keeps mom from baby — a month after all charges dropped

A Tennessee woman's baby remains in state custody weeks after prosecutors dropped charges that led to her arrest and detention by immigration officials.

Esther Lopez-Sanchez is being held at a South Louisiana processing center while her daughter remains in the custody of Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services (DCS), and she is pleading to be reunited with the child, who is a citizen because she was born in the U.S., reported WZTV-TV.

"This has destroyed her," said migrant advocate Zeinab Al-Mathkour. "She had her baby for only two and a half days."

Lopez-Sanchez was arrested last year while pregnant, and she went into labor after being taken to Rutherford County jail and gave birth at a nearby hospital.

Court records show Lopez-Sanchez was arrested Aug. 15, 2024, with her partner, Roberto Nunez-Gomez, on drug and firearm charges, but the charges against her were dropped Nov. 12, 2025, while Nunez-Gomez was convicted.

Al-Mathkour told the station Nunez-Gomez is the baby’s father but said the pair are no longer together.

However, DCS and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is holding Lopez-Sanchez in custody, have refused to return the child a month after she was told she would face no additional action.

Lopez-Sanchez has asked authorities to place her child with family members, but Al-Mathkour told the TV station DCS has resisted.

"(DCS) told her those won't work because one of them is undocumented," Al-Mathkour said. "The other one lives with someone who is undocumented."

Lopez-Sanchez is weighing whether to return to Mexico or fighting deportation, Al-Mathkour said, but conservative political analyst Steve Gill told the TV station that DCS faced a difficult decision.

"The real focus has to be is best for the child, whether it is being under foster care here in the U.S. while the mother is back in Mexico or whether it is dispatching the child to Mexico, which is a hard call," Gill said.

Immigration attorney Andrew Rankin agreed the courts should decide custody based on the interest of the child, but he said migrants deserved an opportunity to be heard before a judge.

"There is an argument that as a matter of due process, parents have the right to parent their child," said Rankin, adding that family members should be next in line.

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