California Woman Reunited with Daughter After Controversial Deportation

Sat Apr 04 2026 09:34:06 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a Californian who was deported under Trump administration policies, reenters the U.S. after a judge's ruling facilitating her return to her daughter.

A California woman has been reunited with her daughter after being deported to Mexico for over a month due to controversial immigration policies. Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, who had lived in the U.S. for 27 years, was ordered back after a judge ruled that her deportation violated her rights under the DACA program, highlighting ongoing issues surrounding immigrant protections.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California woman who had been living in the U.S. for 27 years before the Trump administration deported her to Mexico in February reunited with her daughter this week after a judge ordered her return.

Mexican citizen Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez was protected from deportation under an Obama-era program that allowed people brought to the U.S. as children to remain if they stay out of trouble.

This changed on February 18, when after attending an immigration hearing, she was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deported the following day.

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

Estrada Juárez expressed deep emotional pain during her reunion with her daughter, 22-year-old Damaris Bello, who described the ordeal as akin to grieving for someone still alive.

The federal government has previously deported numerous DACA recipients during President Trump's tenure, emphasizing the ongoing need for more permanent protections for “Dreamers.”

Judge Dena Coggins issued a restraining order, indicating that Estrada Juárez’s deportation was a severe violation of her DACA protections, prompting swift action from authorities to facilitate her return.

Evidently, the DHS upheld its actions citing compliance with a previous 1998 removal order established when Estrada Juárez was a teenager, though her attorney argued the order was unsubstantiated. DACA grants vested rights against deportation, stated Stacy Tolchin, her lawyer.

Now, with her daughter back in her life, Estrada Juárez expressed the need to heal and move forward together as a family, marking a significant moment of resilience amid adversity.