“American Idol” alum Syesha Mercado alleges she’s being deprived of spending time with her two kids who were both taken by authorities earlier this year. The singer tearfully held a virtual news conference Tuesday where she described how she’s missing her newborn daughter Ast and son Amen’Ra.
Her partner and father to her children, Tyron Deener, joined her on the video and claimed that they are law-abiding citizens and can’t fathom why people with no criminal background are being hunted by the cops.
“I went somewhere to get assistance, my baby was supposed to come home with me.” Mercado said. “We should have never been criminalized for getting assistance for something.”
“Our life revolves around health, balance and doing what we can to guide our children,” Deener added. “Nothing that we do is detrimental to our babies.
“If you are a parent, if you are a grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, just know that we have agencies in place that have the ability to remove children without you breaking the law or abusing your niece, nephew, son,” he continued. “If this can happen to us, it can happen to you. We have no criminal background. We have no history with DCF. We have done nothing wrong.”
Renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump has taken up Mercado’s case and he called out the sheriffs “publicly dehumanizing” a black family. Crump made headlines as the attorney for the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Jacob Blake. The nationally recognized lawyer hopes to help Mercado and Deener get their children back.
“I am a first time mom and I’ve been deprived of holding my babies, and feeding my babies,” said Mercado in tears. “I didn’t get to see Ra say mama for the first time. I didn’t get to see my babies meet for the first time. I didn’t get to see that and I can’t go back and redo that moment, I will never be able to go back and redo that moment. I’m just missing out on so many precious moments, such a precious time. I feel my daughter. I feel when she’s hungry and when she’s crying. And I, I can’t do anything. She’s not here with me. I’ve been deprived of that and I don’t know how to articulate it. It hurts so bad.”
Mercado started a GoFundMe page, “Legal Kidnapping of Black Babies through CPS,” to help pay for legal costs. Her goal was to raise $200,000 and has since reached over $400,000.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office seized her baby daughter Aug. 11 in a distressing moment that Deener captured in a now-viral video. The pair were driving in Florida when police surrounded their vehicle and took Ast to a hospital for a physical amid allegations of malnutrition.
Mercado told officers while they seized Ast, “How could you guys do this? Do you not feel anything? My baby is days old and you’re taking my baby away from me. You’re taking my baby away from me. You have no heart. This is so wrong.”
Amen’Ra was placed into the foster care system in March after Mercado’s breast milk supply started to run dry, and he would not accept other fluids. Police took Amen’Ra to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg Feb. 26 for help prior.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Department of Children and Families have not responded to The Post’s repeated requests for comment.
