WASHINGTON – Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called on the Department of Homeland Security to reinstate a California DACA woman who was recently deported a day after her green card interview.
DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is an Obama-era program that since 2012 has protected certain immigrants brought to the US 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 at her green card interview last month and deported within 24 hours, despite having active DACA protections and no criminal record. His story was first reported by the Sacramento Bee.
In a call from Mexico on 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 the opportunities I never had,” she said. “But about two weeks ago, everything changed. I was unfairly fired. In a split second, almost 30 years of my life was taken away from me – my home, my job, my community.”
Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment about Estrada’s case.
The detention and deportation of DACA recipients is a stark contrast to previous administrations, including the Trump administration, and years of dual support for immigrants brought to the US as children. To be accepted into the program, they must pass background checks and meet certain educational or work requirements.
Trump has given mixed signals to DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers.” In his first phase, he tried to shut down the program but failed. In December 2024 on the program “Meet the Press” he said “I want to be able to do something for them”, but he did not give specific details and the administration did nothing to give them more security.
The future of this program remains in the courts.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) said Homeland Security has provided conflicting data to members of Congress about how many DACA recipients have been arrested and deported since Trump returned to the White House.
In the letter of Jan. 12 to Garcia, then Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28 of 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested 270 DACA recipients. The letter did not say how many of the 270 were fired.
Of those, 130 had criminal convictions, 120 had pending charges and 14 were immigration violations, he wrote. That adds up to 264, not 270.
“Please note that DACA is a prosecutorial decision that does not grant legal status,” wrote Noem, who was fired Thursday.
But in a letter he wrote to Durbin and other members of parliament last month, Noem gave small numbers, although he spoke at length, Jan. 1 to November 19, 2025. He said the agency arrested 261 DACA recipients and deported 86.
He said that of those arrested, 241 have a criminal history, although he did not specify whether that means conviction or trial.
On Wednesday, Garcia wrote to Noem, saying, “The discrepancy between your two responses shows incompetence or willful misunderstanding.”
The conflicting information from Noem came after 95 members of Congress in September demanded answers about the targeting of DACA recipients. They wrote that 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 DACA recipient with no criminal record who was arrested last year during an immigration raid in Los Angeles. He was later released.
As of June 2025, there were more than 515,000 DACA recipients in the US, down from the program’s peak of about 800,000. With 144,000, California has the most of any state, according to federal data.
Estrada Juarez did not answer questions during a call Thursday with reporters, but Ivonne Rodriguez, director of immigration reform for the FWD.us group, explained to The Times what happened.
Around 11 a.m. on Feb. 18, Estrada Juarez arrived with her daughter Damaris Bello, a 22-year-old US citizen, at the John E. Moss Federal Building in Sacramento to be interviewed as part of the process of obtaining a permanent residence permit, or green card.
At the courthouse, immigration took Estrada Juarez’s fingerprints and asked her to put her fingerprint on a consent form to be deported, Rodriguez said. He refused.
The officer told Estrada Juarez “If you don’t sign, I’ll make you sign.” The officer grabbed his hand and forced him to sign using his fingerprints, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said federal agents cited a 1998 deportation order when Estrada Juarez was arrested last month in court. But being a DACA recipient should mean that such orders are not made while protected status is in effect, as long as the person stays out of criminal trouble.
“He’s been saying he has active DACA the whole time and they don’t care,” Rodriguez said.
At 8 a.m. the next day, Estrada Juarez was dropped off by a bus in Tijuana, Rodriguez said.
Estrada Juarez is among the many immigrants who have been held for deportation since last year, a departure from the old practice.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on Homeland Security oversight, Durbin asked Noem about Estrada Juarez and other deported DACA recipients.
“Ma’am, secretary, why did you fire so many DACA holders who had to comply with a criminal background check to qualify for DACA?” Durbin asked.
“Sir, we follow all the rules as they apply to the Department of Homeland Security,” Noem replied before Durbin cut him off.
“Why did you fire them?” he repeated.
Noem said he did not know the details of the Estrada Juarez case but would look into it.
On the phone on Thursday 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 have done everything right and followed all the instructions laid out in the program,” she said. “They took the decision of the United States Government, and they kept their end of the deal. But now we know that Donald Trump and Kristi Noem are breaking the government’s promise.”
Estrada Juarez said justice in her case would mean being allowed to return to the US
“I’m not asking for special treatment,” she said. “I am asking for what is right, my deportation was wrong, and my family should not be divided, I want to change and go back home to hold my daughter again.
