SACRAMENTO \u2014 Natomas resident Maria Estrada Jesus arrived at the John Moss Federal Building for what she believed would be a routine green card appointment.<\/p>\n
Within hours, she was allegedly placed in shackles, denied her diabetes medication, and deported to Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me to stand up and turn around, put your hands behind your back. You are ordered to be immediately removed from the United States,\u201d Maria Estrada Jesus previously told Fox40. \u201cMy whole entire world collapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n
One week later, state and local leaders gathered at the federal building to demand her safe and prompt return.<\/p>\n
She came to the U.S. as a teenager nearly 30 years ago under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, but the Department of Homeland Security says she was deported due to a removal order from when she was 15.<\/p>\n
Sacramento Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes read a message from Jesus\u2019s daughter, who is now old enough to sponsor her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose protections gave our family a sense of security, the belief that if we followed the rules and trusted the process, we would be treated fairly, so when we walked into her immigration appointment, we walked in with hope. Instead, I watched my mother be taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her niece said she managed a city-contracted motel providing services to homeless residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expected her to come home \u2014 instead, we came home and it was it wasn\u2019t a home, because the home is where your loved ones are,\u201d her niece told Fox40. \u201cThey chained her from her waist, from her feet, from her arms, as if she was a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n