By Cindy Von Quednow, CNN
(CNN) — They had been separated for 40 days, the longest they’d ever been apart.
She had hugged her daughter countless times, but after being forcibly separated for weeks, their embrace felt like the first time again. It lasted for five minutes, the mother and daughter holding each other tightly, as if they might be pulled apart again if they loosened their grip.
“You did it, mama,” Damaris Bello, 22, told her mother.
María de Jesús Estrada Juárez had accomplished the seemingly and increasingly impossible: She returned to the United States after being deported by the federal government.
Estrada Juárez, who came to the US as a teen and was protected under an Obama-era program for about 13 years, had been deported from Sacramento to Mexico, where she was born.
She’s among hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the US under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. And she’s one of dozens of DACA recipients who have been deported, even though recipients are supposed to be protected from removal.
Between January 1 and November 11, 2025, 261 DACA recipients were arrested and 86 were deported, according to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS did not give CNN updated figures when asked.
With the help of an attorney, Estrada Juárez sued the federal government, and a judge ordered officials to facilitate her safe return to the country she has called home for nearly 30 years.
“Today, justice was done,” Estrada Juárez, 42, told CNN en Español after crossing back into the US last month. “If my case can help other people who fight to be back with their families, then the pain might be worth it.”
Nerves over detainment became reality
Estrada Juárez made a life in the US after arriving from Puebla, Mexico, at 15. She came, like many immigrants, in search of a better life, and to help her mother and siblings, she said. Her DACA status gave her a sense of security and belonging, she said.
The DACA program, which began in 2012, protects about half a million undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.
It allows recipients, or “dreamers,” to work and study legally in the US. Though the Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump from fully shutting down the program in 2020, it continues to face legal challenges.
But critically, DACA doesn’t provide lawful status, according to DHS. Still, Estrada Juárez wanted to become a resident and began the process.
When her interview to adjust her immigration status was scheduled for February 18, she became nervous. She had heard of people being detained and deported at immigration hearings.
But she had a protected status, Estrada Juárez thought to herself, even if it wasn’t permanent. And she had a clean record, with no criminal charges.
“If I was doing the right thing and I was going the right path, why would I ever be afraid?” she recalled asking herself. “Why would you ever be afraid at home?”
As her appointment date approached, Estrada Juárez reflected on the future that permanent residency would bring her and her family: a better future, she thought. A hopeful one.
“It was a life-changing appointment,” she said. “This is the next step to move forward.”
The moment she h