Mexican citizen Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez was among the hundreds of thousands of people shielded from deportation under an Obama-era program allowing people brought to the U.S. as children to stay in the country if they generally stay out of trouble.

But that changed Feb. 18 when she showed up for an immigration hearing and was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deported the next day.

“I didn’t get to say goodbye,” the 42-year-old mother said at a news conference Tuesday in Sacramento. “It all happened so fast. This has been one of the most painful experiences of my life.”

Estrada Juárez held hands with her daughter and began to choke up as she recounted those experiences.

“It’s hard to describe what it feels like to lose your mother so suddenly, especially when you believed she was safe,” said Damaris Bello, Estrada Juárez’s 22-year-old daughter. “It was like grieving someone who was still alive.”

The federal government has deported dozens of recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The events come amid the Trump administration’s reshaping of immigration policy more broadly.

Immigration advocates say Estrada Juárez’s removal highlights the need to offer more permanent protections for DACA recipients, often referred to as “Dreamers.”

The case is a rare example of a judge ordering a person’s return to the United States after being deported, said Talia Inlender, deputy director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.

“But, perhaps unsurprisingly, 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,” Inlender said in a statement.

The federal administration said Estrada Juárez was deported because of a 1998 removal order when Estrada Juárez was a teenager, shortly after she arrived in the U.S. She was sent to Mexico at the time but returned to the U.S. weeks later and has had DACA status since 2013. Federal officials reinstated the 1998 order in February after arresting her.

Estrada Juárez spent the next few weeks after being deported with relatives, stressed about being separated from her daughter.

“You can’t enjoy life when the most important part of your life is not there,” she said.

U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins, who was appointed by then-President Joe Biden, issued a temporary restraining order on March 23, giving the federal government seven days to facilitate Estrada Juárez’s return to the U.S. Her deportation was a “flagrant violation” of her DACA protections and infringed upon her due process rights, Coggins wrote.

The Department of Homeland Security has defended the deportation.

“ICE follows all court orders,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. “This is yet another ruling from a Biden-appointed activist judge.”

But Estrada Juárez wasn’t aware of the 1998 order, which her lawyer argues wasn’t final.

“DACA gives you a vested right to not be deported once it’s granted,” said Stacy Tolchin, an immigration attorney based in Pasadena, California. “I really don’t understand what they’re doing.”

Bello, who was reunited with her mother Monday night, said she is recovering from the events and hopes other families don’t have to endure the same thing.

“Having her back home means everything to me,” she said. “It means we can begin to heal, to rebuild and to move forward together as a family.”

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Nelson Gonzalez, 59, and his wife Gladys Gonzalez, 55, of Orange County, originally entered the states near San Ysidro before ultimately settling in Laguna Niguel and starting their family.  

While the couple tried numerous legal avenues to remain in the country over the years, including appeals to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Board of Immigration Appeals, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Orange County Register that the Gonzalezes had “exhausted all legal options to remain in the U.S. between March 2000 and August 2021,” and were ultimately in violation of immigration law.  

Their three daughters, Gabby, 23, Jessica, 33, and Stephanie, 27, all U.S. citizens, told KTLA that they were devastated when they learned their parents had been detained on Feb. 21 during a regular check-in with U.S. immigration officials.  

“They were put into handcuffs by their wrists and ankles and treated as criminals before getting to these detention centers,” Stephanie Gonzalez told KTLA. “All they said is they extended their stay, even though every year they’ve had permission to be here and they’re law-abiding citizens who show up and are doing their duty to check in with immigration and say, ‘Hey I’m here. I’m not hiding or doing anything wrong.’ Then they just arrested them like that.” 

Gladys and Nelson, neither of whom have a criminal record, were originally held at the Adelanto Detention Center in San Bernardino County before being transferred to a facility in Arizona and later Louisiana.  

Stephanie told The Register that though her parents have been traumatized by everything that’s transpired, they are grateful to no longer be in detention centers and have made contact with family in Colombia who are helping them start a new life.  

The two younger sisters, Gabby and Stephanie, are currently living with Jessica and her husband in Newport Beach. They all plan to visit their parents within the coming weeks.  

Family members also acknowledged they’re one of many who have been affected by President Donald Trump and his administration’s goal of ramping up arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants throughout the U.S.  

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