A 42-year-old DACA recipient, who had been deported to Mexico after attending a routine green card appointment in Sacramento, was reunited with her daughter at the border 40 days later. Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez’s return followed extensive reporting from The Sacramento Bee that highlighted her removal from the United States, which occurred despite her having legal permission to remain in the country.
Estrada Juarez had lived in California for 27 years and was detained at her green card appointment in downtown Sacramento. The deportation drew national attention to immigration enforcement actions against recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. A federal judge eventually ordered the U.S. government to return Estrada Juarez, calling her deportation a “flagrant violation” of constitutional due process rights.
Bee reporter Mathew Miranda and visual journalist Hector Amezcua were with Estrada Juarez and her daughter Monday night as Estrada Juarez returned to the U.S.. Here are key takeaways from this and other Bee reporting:
FULL STORY: California mother reunited at border with daughter after deportation
• Estrada Juarez was arrested Feb. 18 at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office in Sacramento less than an hour after arriving for a green card appointment. She was bussed to Tijuana within 24 hours.
• U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins granted emergency relief on March 23, ordering the government to allow Estrada Juarez back within a week. Coggins said the deportation violated due process rights and protections under DACA, which Estrada Juarez obtained in 2013.
• Estrada Juarez’s return makes her one of the few people allowed back into the country after a deportation during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to immigration experts. “It’s almost impossible to get a person back in the country,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School.
• The Department of Homeland Security said it deported 86 DACA recipients between Jan. 1 and Nov. 19, 2025. Before Estrada Juarez, there appears to be only one other case in which a recipient was allowed to return.
• Estrada Juarez reunited with her daughter, Damaris Bello, 22, at the San Ysidro pedestrian crossing Monday night at 7:30 p.m. after being held inside the port of entry for hours. “I don’t have a life if she’s not with me,” Estrada Juarez said.
• Immigration advocates and California lawmakers say they plan to celebrate Estrada Juarez’s return on Tuesday afternoon at Sacramento City Hall. The Bee is planning a story about the news conference.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. Any content produced using AI tools is reviewed by reporters and editors before publication in compliance with McClatchy Media’s AI policy.
This story was originally published March 31, 2026 at 1:21 PM.
The Sacramento Bee
Chris Fusco is executive editor of The Sacramento Bee and regional editor for all McClatchy newsrooms in California. Before joining McClatchy in September 2025, he worked as executive editor of the Press Democrat News Group in Santa Rosa, managing editor of the Houston Chronicle and executive editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. A suburban Chicago native, he is a 1994 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University.