The Trump administration must bring a DACA recipient it deported to Mexico back to the U.S. within seven days, a federal judge ordered Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins found the federal government flagrantly violated Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez’s protections from deportation under her active Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status when it removed her on Feb. 19.
Immigration authorities arrested Estrada Juarez during an interview to obtain permanent residency and deported her less than 24 hours later. She entered the U.S. without authorization at 15 years old and has lived in the country for nearly 30 years, maintaining DACA status since 2013.
“I am overwhelmed with relief and hope after learning about the court’s decision,” Estrada Juarez said in a statement. “Being separated from my daughter and my home has been incredibly painful. I followed the rules and trusted the process, and I just want to return to my family and rebuild my life.”
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President Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to eliminate during his first term the Obama-era program for immigrants who entered the country illegally as children. In his second term, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested hundreds of DACA recipients, claiming that those with the temporary protections are subject to deportation.
Coggins’ order is a strong rebuke of the Trump administration’s view of DACA.
“Petitioner was conferred substantial benefit pursuant to her DACA status, including the right to live and work in the United States without fear of removal,” the judge wrote. “The government deprived Petitioner of that benefit by removing her from the United States without any notice or opportunity to be heard as to why her DACA status should not be terminated.”
The Department of Homeland Security claims Estrada Juarez was previously deported in 1998 and entered again without authorization two weeks later. Her denial of permanent residency was based on the 1998 removal order that Estrada Juarez argued she wasn’t aware of.
The federal government argued that Coggins lacked jurisdiction to order Estrada Juarez’s return because she had already been deported, but the judge rejected that argument. She wrote that she also sided with the DACA recipient because of the separation from her 22-year-old daughter in Sacramento, California.
“The court finds, clearly and unequivocally, that each day Petitioner remains unlawfully separated from her daughter, they both suffer unimaginable irreparable harm,” Coggins wrote.
Democratic lawmakers advocated for Estrada Juarez’s return and that of the other DACA recipients who have been deported. The Department of Homeland Security has provided conflicting information to Congress on the subject. DHS told House members in January that ICE deported 174 DACA recipients, but it also told Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin in February that 86 had been deported.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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