Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a Mexican citizen who said she had been living in the United States for 27 years, reunited with her daughter this week after a federal judge ordered her return following her deportation to Mexico in February, according to an Associated Press report. The mother, who is 42, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after she appeared for an immigration hearing on Feb. 18 and was deported the next day, the report said.
Estrada Juárez discussed the events Tuesday in Sacramento, describing the separation as sudden and painful. “I didn’t get to say goodbye,” she said at a news conference, adding that “It all happened so fast. This has been one of the most painful experiences of my life.” She held hands with her daughter as she recounted what happened, the report said.
Her daughter, Damaris Bello, said the experience felt like losing a living person. Bello said, “It was like grieving someone who was still alive,” and she framed the separation as grief that came despite a belief that her mother was safe.
Estrada Juárez had been among hundreds of thousands of people protected from deportation under an Obama-era program for people brought to the United States as children, the Associated Press report said. The program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, had allowed her to stay in the country as long as she generally stayed out of trouble, the report said.
The change came after she appeared for a hearing and was arrested on Feb. 18, according to the report. The federal government said she was deported because of a 1998 removal order when Estrada Juárez was a teenager, and it said officials reinstated that order in February after arresting her, the report said.
The report said Estrada Juárez had not been aware of the 1998 order, and her lawyer argued it was not final. Stacy Tolchin, an immigration attorney in Pasadena, California, said the “DACA gives you a vested right to not be deported once it’s granted,” adding, “I really don’t understand what they’re doing,” according to the report.
A U.S. District Judge, Dena Coggins, appointed by former President Joe Biden, issued a temporary restraining order on March 23 that gave the federal government seven days to facilitate Estrada Juárez’s return, the report said. In the order, Coggins said her deportation was a “flagrant violation” of her DACA protections and that it infringed her due process rights, according to the report.
The Associated Press report said the Department of Homeland Security defended the deportation and said, “ICE follows all court orders,” adding, “This is yet another ruling from a Biden-appointed activist judge,” in a statement. In the account, the dispute over the case centered on whether the government’s action complied with DACA protections and the process required for removal.
Immigration advocates said the case stands out as an uncommon example of a judge ordering a deported person’s return. Talia Inlender, deputy director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, said in a statement that it “feels like this is happening with more frequency under the current administration which is prioritizing speed and quotas, rather than fairness and process, in facilitating removals,” the report said.
After being reunited, Bello said she hoped the family could begin to heal and move forward. Bello said, “Having her back home means everything to me,” and she added: “It means we can begin to heal, to rebuild and to move forward together as a family.”