California Woman Deported Under Trump Administration Reunites with Daughter

Thu Apr 02 2026 02:49:45 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, who was deported to Mexico in February after living in the U.S. for 27 years, has been reunited with her daughter following a judge's ruling for her return.

Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a 42-year-old woman who was deported from the U.S. after 27 years due to a 1998 removal order, has been allowed to return and reunite with her daughter Damaris Bello. The incident highlights concerns over the treatment of DACA recipients and immigration policies.

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 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 on February 18 when she showed up for an immigration hearing and was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 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. 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. U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins, appointed by then-President Joe Biden, issued a temporary restraining order on March 23, demanding the federal government facilitate Estrada Juárez’s return. Her deportation was termed a “flagrant violation” of her DACA protections and infringed upon her due process rights.

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.”