WASHINGTON- A federal judge on Monday ordered the government to return to the United States a DACA recipient from California who was deported last month to Mexico.
U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins in Sacramento gave the government seven days to return María de Jesús Estrada Juárez, 42, and restore her protections under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, “as if her Feb. 19, 2026, removal never happened.”
An attorney for Estrada Juárez argued that she was illegally deported one day after showing up for a scheduled immigration appointment in Sacramento.
Meanwhile, government lawyers argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over Estrada Juárez's case because her petition was filed after she was deported and because her removal was a discretionary decision to which the government is entitled.
Coggins said he found the government's argument “futile” and wrote in his ruling that Estrada Juárez “was removed in flagrant violation of the regulatory protections afforded to her under DACA, and in violation of the constitutional protections afforded to her under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
In a statement, Estrada Juárez said she was “overwhelmed with relief and hope” after learning of the court's decision.
The Department of Homeland Security said it had reinstated an expedited deportation order for Estrada Juárez from 1998, when she was 15 years old. But her attorney, Stacy Tolchin, said the record showed the order lacked supervisory approval and was never finalized, so there was no valid deportation order to reinstate it.
Homeland Security previously told the Times that an immigration judge had ordered Estrada Juarez deported in 1998 “and she was removed from the United States shortly thereafter.” Tolchin said Estrada Juárez never saw an immigration judge.
Estrada Juárez, who worked as a regional manager for Motel 6, has had protection from deportation under DACA since 2013. He applied for lawful permanent residence, or green card, through his daughter, Damaris Bello, 22, who is a U.S. citizen.
His deportation after his green card interview drew public attention and outrage from members of Congress, including Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).
Tolchin filed the lawsuit asking for his return on March 10.
DACA was created to protect undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children.
As of June 2025, there were more than 515,000 DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers,” in the U.S. California has 144,000 DACA recipients, the most of any state, according to federal data.
