After a wrongful deportation, a judge ordered her return home

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Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez recalls the 40 days she spent in Mexico as a dark time. After more than 27 years in the United States, her country of birth no longer felt like home. At 42, Estrada Juarez found herself needing help with the smallest things, grocery shopping, for instance, or riding the bus. Worst of all, she was missing the most important person in her life: her US citizen daughter Damaris Bello.

“There were some moments where it was even hard for me to breathe,” Estrada Juarez said during a video call last week. “We’ve never been apart so much; we’ve always been together.”

In February, Estrada Juarez was wrongfully deported to Mexico despite having protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that shields undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation. She’s now back in Sacramento after a California federal judge ordered the Trump administration to return her to the United States. But readjusting to life post-deportation hasn’t been easy, and mother and daughter are still reeling from the forced separation.

“I think a lot of people assume that the story ends when your loved one comes back,” 22-year-old Bello said. “But that’s just the beginning of when the healing process starts.”

#immigration #daca #deportation

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