They had been separated for 40 days, the longest they’d ever been aside.
She had hugged her daughter numerous instances, however after being forcibly separated for weeks, their embrace felt like the first time once more. It lasted for 5 minutes, the mom and daughter holding one another tightly, as in the event that they could be pulled aside once more in the event that they loosened their grip.
“You did it, mama,” Damaris Bello, 22, advised her mom.
María de Jesús Estrada Juárez had completed the seemingly and more and more not possible: She returned to the United States after being deported by the federal authorities.
Estrada Juárez, who got here to the US as a teen and was protected below an Obama-era program for about 13 years, had been deported from Sacramento to Mexico, the place she was born.
She’s amongst a whole bunch of 1000’s of immigrants dwelling in the US below the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. And she’s considered one of dozens of DACA recipients who’ve been deported, though recipients are supposed to be protected against removing.
Between January 1 and November 11, 2025, 261 DACA recipients have been arrested and 86 have been deported, in accordance to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS didn’t give NCS up to date figures when requested.
With the assist of an lawyer, Estrada Juárez sued the federal authorities, and a decide ordered officers to facilitate her protected return to the nation she has known as house for almost 30 years.
“Today, justice was done,” Estrada Juárez, 42, told NCS en Español after crossing back into the US final month. “If my case can help other people who fight to be back with their families, then the pain might be worth it.”
Estrada Juárez made a life in the US after arriving from Puebla, Mexico, at 15. She got here, like many immigrants, looking for a greater life, and to assist her mom and siblings, she stated. Her DACA standing gave her a way of safety and belonging, she stated.
The DACA program, which started in 2012, protects about half a million undocumented immigrants introduced to the US as kids.
It permits recipients, or “dreamers,” to work and examine legally in the US. Though the Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump from totally shutting down the program in 2020, it continues to face authorized challenges.
But critically, DACA doesn’t present lawful standing, according to DHS. Still, Estrada Juárez wished to change into a resident and commenced the course of.
When her interview to regulate her immigration standing was scheduled for February 18, she grew to become nervous. She had heard of individuals being detained and deported at immigration hearings.
But she had a protected standing, Estrada Juárez thought to herself, even when it wasn’t everlasting. And she had a clear report, with no prison expenses.
“If I was doing the right thing and I was going the right path, why would I ever be afraid?” she recalled asking herself. “Why would you ever be afraid at home?”
As her appointment date approached, Estrada Juárez mirrored on the future that everlasting residency would convey her and her household: a greater future, she thought. A hopeful one.
“It was a life-changing appointment,” she stated. “This is the next step to move forward.”
The second she had dreamed of for years was about to change into actuality.
“But the dream,” Estrada Juárez stated, “shattered.”
She was in handcuffs.
“I couldn’t say goodbye. I didn’t have a real chance to speak before a judge or defend myself. Everything happened so fast,” Estrada Juárez stated.
Her first thought was her daughter, her solely little one.
“I am the head of household. She depends 100% on me,” Estrada Juárez stated. “Being ripped away from my daughter like that, it was a devastating moment. I feel very hopeless, very helpless. I feel like they took my life away.”
Being pulled away from her little one felt like the air was being sucked out of her lungs. Being separated for such a very long time was so tough; typically she discovered it laborious to breathe, she stated.
“It’s hard to describe what it feels like to lose your mother so suddenly, especially when you believed she was safe,” Bello stated at a information convention upon her mom’s return to the US. “It was like grieving someone who is still alive… but we fought. Every single day we fought to bring her home.”
Estrada Juárez first entered the US alone when she was 15 years previous. She was issued an order of expedited removing and returned to Mexico, in accordance to court docket paperwork. She got here back to the US two weeks later and has lived right here since, the paperwork say.
She enrolled in highschool and graduated. Her daughter was born in 2003, and Estrada Juárez raised her on her personal whereas working. In the summer season of 2013, Estrada Juárez was granted DACA standing, in accordance to her lawyer Stacy Tolchin.
She took a short journey to Mexico in 2014, her lawyer stated, with DHS’s data and authorization.
But when Estrada Juárez went to that fateful interview, officers discovered the unique 1998 removing order, Tolchin stated.
She knew she had been deported when she was 15 years previous, her lawyer stated. But the interview was the first time Estrada Juárez discovered about the formal order, court docket paperwork say.
She wasn’t given a replica of the unique order, nor the new 2026 one, her lawsuit towards the federal authorities alleges. Instead, she was issued a doc stating she was barred from returning to the US as a result of she had been ordered eliminated by an immigration decide in removing proceedings. But Estrada Juárez says she’s by no means been in removing proceedings earlier than a decide.
“There’s just so many layers of error that happened here,” Tolchin stated, calling the deportation “completely unlawful,” “eye opening” and “really disappointing.”
After her lawsuit was filed in district court docket, the decide ordered the authorities to facilitate Estrada Juarez’s return to the US, lambasting its authorized arguments justifying her deportation in a scathing order.
“Despite any interest the government may have in promptly executing removal orders, ‘our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends,’” Judge Dena Coggins wrote in her ruling.
“ICE follows all court orders. This is yet another ruling from a Biden-appointed activist judge,” DHS stated in an announcement to NCS.
The decide gave the authorities seven days to facilitate Estrada Juárez’s return to the US. Seven days after the order, she crossed the border by way of the San Ysidro port of entry, the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere, on March 30.
Weeks after her return to the US, Estrada Juárez is grappling with how to rebuild her life after her deportation.
While in Mexico, Estrada Juárez was with her mom, sister, brothers and nephews, however she missed her daughter day-after-day she was away.
“You can’t enjoy life when the most important part of your life is not there,” Estrada Juárez stated at the information convention. “It’s not like I was having a good time. I was very stressed … I think I aged a lot.”
Her days have been full of media interviews, Zoom conferences with her lawyer and conversations with her daughter.
“My days were really sad,” Estrada Juárez stated. “There was a little bit of moments where I tried to enjoy, but I couldn’t.”
Her arrest has left her with lingering nervousness: Recently, she encountered a safety guard at a retailer wearing all inexperienced, a disconcerting reminder of the uniforms worn by the officers who handcuffed her at immigration court docket.
“I had to leave the store because I started getting very bad anxiety,” Estrada Juárez stated. “It was a really bad, bad experience. And I didn’t think I was going to feel like that ever again, but it’s definitely something that is going to take a lot of time for me to be able to move on.”
She additionally canceled a current journey to Los Angeles to go to her grandmother’s grave as a result of her daughter didn’t need her to fly over concern that she could be detained once more.
“I don’t want to be stuck. I wanted to flip the page. I want to move on. But I think it’s going to take a long time,” Estrada Juárez stated.
She hopes turning into a authorized resident will assist her not really feel fearful, like turning into a DACA recipient did.
She credit the program for serving to her go from working at a gasoline station to turning into an auto insurance coverage dealer and a enterprise proprietor.
“It does make a difference. It opened a lot of doors for me,” Estrada Juárez stated.
Her objectives have modified after her deportation, like they did after her daughter was born, she advised NCS, however she continues to be planning for a future in the US.
“We have a lot of plans. I am hoping to be able to reach out for more opportunities,” she stated. “Live today because you don’t know if you’re going to be here tomorrow.”
Estrada Juarez’ DACA standing expires April 23. Her renewal software stays pending.
NCS’s Gonzalo Alvarado and Uriel Blanco contributed to this report.