After nonprofit mobilized to support pregnant immigrants this winter, long-term needs emerge
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July 2025 was the first time Fernanda Honebrink heard about a member of her community detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, five months before the official start of Operation Metro Surge.
In November, Honebrink heard of more immigration enforcement activity. And by January, the height of the surge, Honebrink says some immigrant families had already been in hiding for three months.
It was shortly after Renee Good was killed in January when Honebrink got a call from a family who was in hiding, hungry and asking for help buying groceries, that what was happening really hit her.
“We delivered the food and seeing the curtains closed, the doors locked, people just crying, not even having sunlight coming in,” Honebrink told Minnesota Now host Nina Moini. “I felt like I was in an alternate reality.”
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Honebrink is an immigrant from Ecuador herself, and believes she is one of the few Latina midwives in the state. A volunteer in the community as well, she is connected to many immigrant families. And quickly, immigrants began phoning her for help.
With the support of community members and neighbors, she founded Conexión, the Spanish word for “connection.” The Birth Justice Collaborative is their fiscal sponsor. And Honebrink began asking people to spread the word that support was available for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.
With donations, Honebrink and other volunteers bought 15,000 diapers. And Honebrink’s immigrant clients transitioned to virtual appointments.
Because Honebrink’s medical license is only for working in a hospital setting, she connected mothers with licensed home birth midwives who would bring mobile ultrasound machines and draw blood from homes.
For people who needed immediate medical care, Conexión coordinated a group of white volunteer drivers, who they believed would not be racially profiled and pulled over by immigration agents.
Honebrink says more than six months later, many of the families she’s worked with are more comfortable leaving their homes. Still, she is taking things day by day and is still helping families with immediate needs. Honebrink is also concerned about the long-term trauma and mental health of families who were impacted.
An additional challenge has emerged: some women have become single mothers because the father was detained or deported. Honebrink says oftentimes the men were the breadwinners of the house, “so now they're this single woman with a brand new baby that they don't know what to do.”
Conexión has continued to provide both perinatal support and has helped fund basic needs like groceries and rent. But she has also seen newly single mothers turn to each other by babysitting for each other.
“They are taking care of their own children, and they're taking care of other women’s children, so then they can go to work, and that's how they are sustaining themselves,” Honebrink explained.
Mothers are also donating baby clothes their child has grown out of to other new immigrant mothers.
And they’re sharing their gratitude for Conexión’s work.
One letter sent to Honebrink reads: “At some moment when my baby grows up I will be able to tell her about the marvelous angels that helped us during the difficult times.”
