Los Angeles.- A federal judge in California ordered the return to the United States of a deported mexican even though she was protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), had no criminal record and had lived in the country for more than 25 years.
Judge Dena Coggins gave the president’s administration donald trump a period of seven days to return to the country María de Jesús Estrada Juárez42 years old, deported on February 19, 24 hours after her arrest in Sacramento (California).
The case of the Mexican woman drew public attention after being detained during her interview for a green card, despite having active DACA protection and have no background penalties.
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Estrada Juárez appeared on February 18 at the offices of the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the Californian capital, along with her 22-year-old daughter and a US citizen, for an adjustment of status interview.
However, immigration agents took her fingerprints and invoked a deportation order from 1998, when she was a minor and was taken by bus to the California-Mexico border on a trip of more than 10 hours.
In his ruling, issued Monday night, Coggins ordered the government to return DACA protection to the Mexican, after determining that the program protected her from deportation.
Estrada Juarez entered without inspection to the United States in December 1998 when she was 15 years old and was expelled from the country. The immigrant returned again undocumented as a minor, settled in California and in 2012 obtained DACA protection, which was in effect on the day of her arrest.
DACA It was established by the former president Barack Obama (2009-2017), the amparo supposedly protects immigrants from deportation and grants them a valid permit to work.
In its mass deportation plan, the Trump government has detained hundreds of people protected under this program. At least 270 protected persons were expelled from the country from January to September 2025, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
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