Judge Orders That Woman Be Returned To The US After Unlawful Deportations

A federal judge has delivered a rare and forceful rebuke to U.S. immigration authorities, ruling that Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a longtime DACA recipient who lived in the United States for nearly three decades, was unlawfully deported and must be returned to the country she has called home since she was a teenager.

Estrada Juárez, who arrived in the U.S. at 15, had maintained active DACA status since 2013, built a life in California, and had no criminal history.

 In February, she attended what should have been a routine green‑card appointment and instead was detained, processed, and deported to Mexico in less than 24 hours. 

Immigration officials claimed she was subject to a 1998 removal order, a document she said she never received and had no chance to contest.

U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins condemned the government’s actions as a “flagrant violation” of the protections DACA is designed to provide. The court found that officials ignored her lawful presence, denied her due process, and removed her without giving her any meaningful opportunity to challenge the decades‑old order. 

The judge emphasized that each day Estrada Juárez remained separated from her young daughter caused “irreparable harm.” and ordered the government to bring her back to the United States within seven days. 

She has since returned to California, reunited with her daughter, and described feeling relief, hope, and disbelief after the ordeal.