Senators demand return of deported California DACA recipient

WASHINGTON- Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called on the Department of Homeland Security to remove a California woman with DACA who was recently deported a day after her green card interview.

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is the Obama-era program that since 2012 has protected some immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation and allowed them to work legally.

Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez lived in California for 27 years before she was arrested during her green card interview last month and deported within 24 hours, despite active DACA protection and no criminal history. Her story was first reported by the Sacramento Bee.

On a call from Mexico Thursday with reporters, Estrada Juarez, 42, said DACA was supposed to protect people like her who work hard and follow the rules.

“I did everything I could to build a stable life and give my daughter opportunities I never had,” she said. “But about two weeks ago, everything changed. I was evicted unjustly. In a single moment, almost 30 years of my life were taken away from me: my home, my job, my community.”

Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on Estrada’s case.

The detention and deportation of DACA recipients stands in stark contrast to previous administrations, including the first Trump administration, and to years of bipartisan support for immigrants brought to the United States as children. To be admitted to the program, they must pass a background check and meet certain education or work requirements.

Trump has given mixed signals about DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers.” During his first term, he unsuccessfully attempted to end the program. In December 2024, on “Meet the Press,” he said, “I want to be able to find a solution” on their behalf, but gave no details and the administration did nothing to offer them additional protection.

The fate of the program has since remained embroiled in litigation.

Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) said Homeland Security has provided conflicting data to members of Congress on how many DACA recipients have been detained and deported since Trump returned to the White House.

In a Jan. 12 letter to Garcia, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said that between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 270 DACA recipients. The letter does not specify how many of these 270 people were deported.

Of those, 130 had criminal convictions, 120 had pending criminal charges and 14 had violated immigration law, she wrote. That’s 264, not 270.

“Please note that DACA is a form of prosecutorial discretion that does not confer legal status,” wrote Noem, who was fired Thursday.

But in a letter to Durbin and other senators last month, Noem provided smaller numbers, although she addressed a longer period, from Jan. 1 to Nov. 19, 2025. She said the agency arrested 261 DACA recipients and deported 86 of them.

She said of those arrested, 241 had criminal histories, although she did not specify whether that meant pending convictions or charges.

On Wednesday, Garcia responded to Noem, saying, “The discrepancies between your two responses demonstrate gross incompetence or intentional misdirection. »

Noem’s conflicting data came after 95 members of Congress demanded answers in September on the targeting of DACA recipients. They wrote the letter after Tricia McLaughlin, former Homeland Security public affairs secretary, said DACA recipients “are not automatically protected from deportation.”

Lawmakers cited the case of a deaf, nonverbal DACA recipient with no criminal history who was arrested last year amid immigration raids in Los Angeles. He was later released.

As of June 2025, there were more than 515,000 DACA recipients in the United States, a decrease since the program’s peak of nearly 800,000. With 144,000 residents, California has the most people, according to federal data.

Estrada Juarez did not answer questions during Thursday’s phone call with reporters, but Ivonne Rodriguez, press director for immigration reform at the advocacy group FWD.us, explained to the Times what happened.

On February 18 around 11 a.m., Estrada Juarez arrived with her daughter Damaris Bello, a 22-year-old U.S. citizen, at the John E. Moss Federal Building in Sacramento for an interview as part of the process of obtaining legal permanent residency, or a green card.

At the courthouse, immigration officials took Estrada Juarez’s fingerprints and asked her to put them on a form indicating she had agreed to be deported, Rodriguez said. She refused.

An officer told Estrada Juarez, “If you don’t sign, I’ll make you sign.” The officer grabbed her hand and forced her to sign using her fingerprint, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said federal agents cited a 1998 deportation order when detaining Estrada Juarez last month at the courthouse. But being a DACA recipient should mean that those orders aren’t enforced while protected status is active, as long as the person stays out of criminal trouble.

“She kept stating that she had active DACA throughout this period and that they didn’t care,” Rodriguez said.

By 8 a.m. the next morning, Estrada Juarez had been dropped off by bus in Tijuana, Rodriguez said.

Estrada Juarez is among many immigrants arrested for deportation at courthouses since last year, a practice that breaks with old procedure.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on Homeland Security oversight, Durbin asked Noem about Estrada Juarez and other deported DACA recipients.

“Madam Secretary, why did you deport dozens of DACA holders who were required to undergo criminal background checks to be eligible for DACA? » asked Durbin.

“Sir, we follow all laws applicable to the Department of Homeland Security,” Noem responded before Durbin interrupted.

“Why did you expel them? he repeated.

Noem said she was not familiar with the details of Estrada Juarez’s case but would look into it.

On Thursday’s call with Estrada Juarez, Sen. Padilla (D-Calif.) said he met his daughter this week. He and other Democrats have called on Congress to pass legislation that would permanently protect DACA recipients from deportation.

“DACA recipients did everything right and followed all instructions laid out in the program,” he said. “They took the US government at its word and kept their end of the bargain. But we now know that Donald Trump and Kristi Noem are not keeping the government’s promise.”

Estrada Juarez said justice in her case would mean she would be allowed to return to the United States

“I’m not asking for special treatment,” she said. “I’m asking for what’s right. My deportation was wrong and my family shouldn’t be torn apart. I just want to change to go home and hold my daughter again.”