ICE deports Suffolk County mother convicted in newborn smothering case

Federal immigration agents deported Soili Xiomara Aparicio-Santos after she finished a Suffolk prison term for trying to smother her newborn with a pillow in Centereach, a case that moved through county court, state appeal and federal removal orders. The case has become a stark example of how sentencing, jail release planning and immigration enforcement intersect when a violent child-protection case reaches the end of a prison term.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Aparicio-Santos was convicted of second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree attempted assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Suffolk County Court rendered judgment in the case on Nov. 1, 2018, in Ind. No. 1910/2017. She was originally sentenced to 16 years in prison, then had that sentence reduced to 10 years on appeal by the New York Appellate Division, Second Department, in 2021.

DHS said local authorities cooperated with ICE and notified federal agents about her upcoming release. An immigration detainer was lodged after her 2017 arrest by the Suffolk County Police Department, according to reports based on DHS information. Those same reports said a family member who witnessed the attack called 911, and the newborn boy was later placed into foster care.

The federal removal case stretched back years before the prison term ended. DHS said Aparicio-Santos entered the United States in 2014 and had a final order of removal dated April 17, 2014. ICE said it deported her from New York in April 2026 after she served about eight years in prison.

The case leaves Suffolk County with a record that spans a Centereach home, county investigators, state judges and federal agents. It also shows how a violent case involving a newborn can remain active long after conviction, with custody decisions and notification procedures shaping whether a defendant leaves prison and then leaves the country.