Federal Judge Orders Return of Deported California DACA Recipient

A federal judge in Sacramento ordered the Trump administration to bring back Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a 42‑year‑old Mexican citizen who had lived in the U.S. for 27 years and held Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status since 2013, after ICE abruptly deported her to Mexico in February. Estrada Juárez was seized at a Feb. 18 immigration hearing and removed the next day based on a 1998 removal order from when she was a teenager, an order her lawyer says was not final and that she never knew about. U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins issued a temporary restraining order on March 23 giving the federal government seven days to facilitate her return, calling the deportation a "flagrant violation" of her DACA protections and due‑process rights. DHS is defending the removal, with a spokesperson saying ICE "follows all court orders" and dismissing the ruling as coming from a "Biden‑appointed activist judge," while UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy calls the case a rare, but increasingly necessary, instance of courts intervening as the administration prioritizes speed and quotas over fairness in removals. Advocates say the episode underscores how vulnerable DACA recipients remain without permanent legal status and could foreshadow more legal clashes over whether DACA confers a vested right not to be deported.