![\"Damaris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_2819_MariaEstrada_HA_260330.JPG\" "\\"SAC_2819_MariaEstrada_HA_260330.JPG\\"")
Damaris Bello, left, embraces her mother, Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, after Estrada Juarez exits the San Ysidro pedestrian crossing on Monday, March 30, 2026. Estrada Juarez returned to the United States on humanitarian parole following a federal court order requiring the government to facilitate her reentry after her February deportation. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n
What followed was a weekslong, nationwide effort to bring back the 42-year-old mother, whose removal sparked outcry from federal, state and local officials, including in testimony at a U.S. Senate congressional hearing. <\/a><\/p>\n Last week, following a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, <\/a>a judge ordered the U.S. government to return Estrada Juarez in seven days. On Monday, the deadline, Immigration and Customs Enforcement finally granted her permission to reenter.\u00a0<\/p>\n The move makes Estrada Juarez one of the few people to be allowed back into the country<\/a> after a deportation during President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, according to immigration experts. The government does not publish data on how often federal courts order such returns \u2014 and how often DHS complies.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost impossible to get a person back in the country,\u201d said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School. \u201cSo this is a welcome, but rare court order.\u201d<\/p>\n Even up until the last few minutes, Estrada Juarez\u2019s return seemed uncertain. She was held in the San Ysidro Port of Entry pedestrian building for hours after others who crossed with her had already exited. Before then, Estrada Juarez had spent days anxiously awaiting updates from the government to facilitate her return.\u00a0<\/p>\n All the while, Estrada Juarez and Bello longed to see each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two have largely been on their own since Estrada Juarez separated from Bello\u2019s father nearly 20 years ago. Until last month, their longest stretch apart came when Bello went on a multi-day field trip in seventh grade. Estrada Juarez drove to see her after one night.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s my best friend,\u201d Bello, 22, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their lives unraveled Feb. 18, when they attended the green card appointment in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office in Sacramento.<\/p>\n Federal agents arrested Estrada Juarez less than an hour after she arrived. Within 24 hours, she was bussed to Tijuana, Mexico.<\/p>\n On Sunday, she returned to the border \u2014 this time planning to cross on her own.<\/p>\n Days earlier, U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins in Sacramento federal court had granted emergency relief, ordering the government to allow Estrada Juarez back into the country within the week. Coggins called her deportation a \u201cflagrant violation\u201d of constitutional due process rights and protections under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which typically shields recipients from deportation if they arrived in the U.S. as children and have no criminal record. Estrada Juarez obtained DACA status in 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n DACA recipients have largely avoided the brunt of the Trump administration\u2019s anti-immigration agenda<\/a>. The president, who sought to end the program during his first term, has more recently said he would look for ways to spare the more than 500,000 recipients from deportation.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security said in February that 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 to the U.S., though that case did not involve a federal court order.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know of any instances in which a court has ordered the government to facilitate the return of a DACA beneficiary,\u201d said C\u00e9sar Cuauht\u00e9moc Garc\u00eda Hern\u00e1ndez, an immigration law professor at the Ohio State University.<\/p>\n In Tijuana Sunday, over a plate of seafood, Estrada Juarez allowed herself some hope. She spent days on video calls with her lawyer and immigration advocates as details shifted constantly. They assured her that a return was a matter of when \u2014 not if.<\/p>\n \u201cThis case makes clear that the government cannot ignore due process and basic legal protections,\u201d said her attorney Stacy Tolchin.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tolchin arranged for Estrada Juarez to wait in Rosarito, a beach town about 30 minutes from the border. When she arrived Sunday afternoon, she sifted through her belongings one more time to ensure nothing might raise concern at the port of entry.<\/p>\n Inside, Estrada Juarez found what she calls the \u201cmost expensive bag\u201d she\u2019s ever owned. The red mesh sack, of the kind typically used to store oranges or onions, is stamped with her name, immigration number and date of deportation. It was given to her the day she was deported.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to burn this when we get back home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n That night, Estrada Juarez walked to the beach. Families were gathered near the water. Children ran in and out of the waves. She FaceTimed her daughter.<\/p>\n They had spent years visiting beaches together, especially in Santa Monica. Estrada Juarez turned the camera to show the sunset. She promised to bring her daughter back. \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time I go to the beach without her,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Minutes after the call ended, she collapsed onto the sand and wept.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt would mean my life,\u201d she said, describing what it would feel like to see her daughter again.<\/p>\n The approval of her parole came the next morning, while Estrada Juarez was still wrapped in a blanket.\u00a0<\/p>\n She again FaceTimed Bello. Neither said a word as tears fell down their faces.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSee you soon,\u201d Estrada Juarez said before ending the call.<\/p>\n Hours later, before entering the pedestrian crossing line at the border, she checked her blood pressure. The digital monitor read:156\/97 \u2014 a range classified as high blood pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had higher,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n On the U.S. side, Bello was waiting near the exit, after flying down from Sacramento. For nearly five hours, her phone trembled in her hands as she tracked her mother\u2019s location.\u00a0<\/p>\n At 7:30 p.m., Estrada Juarez stepped out. Bello stood up as her mother moved closer. They were tired of relying on phone calls and video screens.<\/p>\n They embraced and didn\u2019t let go.\u00a0<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 31, 2026 at 3:00 AM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_3956_MariaEstrada_HA_260330.JPG\" "\\"SAC_3956_MariaEstrada_HA_260330.JPG\\"")
Maria de Jesus Estrada, a DACA recipient that was deported in February to Mexico, meets her daughter Damaris Bello at the San Ysidro Border Crossing on Monday, March 30, 2026. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_198_MariaEstrada_HA_260329.JPG\" "\\"SAC_198_MariaEstrada_HA_260329.JPG\\"")
Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, a DACA recipient who was deported in February, talks on the phone with her mother at a home in Puebla, Mexico, on Sunday, March 29, 2026, as she waits for confirmation that she can return to Sacramento. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_8850_MariaEstrada_HA_260329.JPG\" "\\"SAC_8850_MariaEstrada_HA_260329.JPG\\"")
Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez stands inside a home in Rosarito, Mexico, on Sunday, March 29, 2026, holding the red mesh bag that contained her belongings after her detention at a green card appointment in Sacramento. \u201cThey gave me this in exchange for my life,\u201d Estrada said. She was deported within 24 hours of her arrest and later granted humanitarian parole to return to the United States under a federal court order. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_9144_MariaEstrada_HA_260329.JPG\" "\\"SAC_9144_MariaEstrada_HA_260329.JPG\\"")
Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez breaks down on the beach as Ivonne Rodriguez, press director at FWD.us, comforts her in Rosarito, Mexico, on Sunday, March 29, 2026. Estrada Juarez was awaiting permission to reenter the United States after a federal judge ordered the government to facilitate her return. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_1527_MariaEstrada_HA_260330.JPG\" "\\"SAC_1527_MariaEstrada_HA_260330.JPG\\"")
Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez walks toward the San Ysidro pedestrian crossing on Monday, March 30, 2026, seeking to reenter the United States. She was held for hours at the port of entry before Immigration and Customs Enforcement granted her humanitarian parole under a federal court order. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n