ICE confirms Florida momfluencer arrested for pouring hot wax on children is illegal immigrant from Cuba

DHS said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer asking Miami officials not to release Meliza Campos-Sanchez. The mother has been charged with child abuse, child neglect, and arson. DHS said she entered the US illegally through Florida in May of 2022.

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement, “This Cuban illegal alien is charged with child abuse and arson after she poured hot wax onto one of her own children and then lit a fire in her home. If it weren’t for the Biden Administration’s reckless open-border policies, criminals like this woman would have never been able to enter our country. ICE has lodged a detainer asking Miami officials to not release this criminal from jail. We will work with our partners in Florida to make sure she is removed from our country after she faces justice.”

Authorities responded to Campos-Sanchez’s Miami home on August 16 to a call about an intentional fire set in the kitchen. She was taken into custody by Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies, and a mental health evaluation was conducted at a local hospital before she was booked into jail.

Authorities uncovered two social media videos posted to her Instagram, one of which showed Campos-Sanchez dancing around her kitchen in scantily clad clothing before setting articles of clothing on fire. Another video showed the mother pouring hox was on her daughters, ages 6 and 3.

Campos-Sanchez’s eldest daughter told authorities that the two sisters watched as their mother started the fire, threw a glass mug on the floor while dancing, and then extinguished the fire with a bowl of water.

The defendant’s estranged husband told investigators that he had contacted the sheriff's office about a week earlier out of concern for the children, citing her recent suicidal behavior. He was not present during the incident.