SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez arrived in the U.S. as a minor in 1998, and she became a DREAMer. The 42-year-old is one of hundreds of thousands of people who are protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - or DACA - policy. She earned a high school diploma here. She worked. She paid taxes. She had a daughter. And this year, she became the target of the Trump administration and was deported to Mexico in February. After a federal judge ruled that her deportation was unlawful, Estrada Juarez returned home to Sacramento, California, this week. And she joins us now with her daughter, Damaris Bello. Thank you both very much for being with us.
MARIA DE JESUS ESTRADA JUAREZ: Thank you for having us.
DAMARIS BELLO: Thank you so much for having us.
SIMON: Maria, I gather you were deported the day after an immigration hearing to obtain a green card. What happened?
ESTRADA JUAREZ: So I applied for my green card. We went to the appointment. Within not even 30 minutes, I got detained and deported back to Mexico in less than 24 hours. I mentioned multiple times, I am a DACA recipient. My DACA is active. I got ignored. I asked to speak to a judge, and no. It was just, like, a no, you know? If - it seems like they just want to, you know, get rid of me, like, as soon as possible.
SIMON: Damaris, what was that like for you?
BELLO: I can't describe it. Honestly, I think it was just a nightmare. I'm an only child, so it was very overwhelming. When she was taken, I remember feeling powerless, and I was looking around in the room for someone to help me. In that moment, you realize that no one in that room is there to help you. Everyone there is against you. I felt helpless, small and invisible.
SIMON: Maria, how did the United States send you to Mexico?
ESTRADA JUAREZ: After I got detained, they - it's - oh, God. They handcuffed my feet, my waist with my hands, and I was transported like I was the worst criminal of ever. I asked, where are we going? And usually, you know, the answer is, we're going to take you where you need to go. And, you know, after taking a minute, you know, to put myself together to get on the van, I got on the van. I think my first stop was Stockton.
SIMON: Stockton, California. Yeah.
ESTRADA JUAREZ: From there, I went to Bakersfield, to LA, straight to the Mexico border. I have diabetes, and I have medication that I needed to take. And I remember not taking it in the morning because I usually take my shot in the afternoons, after dinner. And I keep asking through the way, you know, for my medication. And they say, OK, we have it. One of the agents - or I don't really know if they're agents or not.
SIMON: Yeah. They didn't have any uniforms, right?
ESTRADA JUAREZ: Yeah. One of them - he asked me, what kind of medication you take for your diabetes? I said, I get - they prescribe me with Ozempic once a week. And he kind of laughed. And he said, Ozempic is to lose weight, not for diabetes. So I didn't get my medication. Another thing. They referred to us that we're not people - that we're just things, not humans. I never felt so humiliated like that ever in my life, especially because I'm not a criminal. I've never done anything wrong for me to feel that way.
SIMON: May I ask - what was it like being separated?
BELLO: Like I mentioned before, I'm an only child. So...
SIMON: You know, I don't know how old you are. May I ask?
BELLO: I'm 22.
SIMON: Yeah.
BELLO: I had to step up into responsibilities that I never had to handle before because my mother held everything together - rent, bills, insurance. I really didn't even have time to process what was happening emotionally. Being separated from my mother, not being able to be with her, wake up in the mornings, have breakfast with her before she went to work was the worst part of it all. They don't understand. They say they're enforcing the law, but what often gets lost is the human impact - families being separated. And people like me are left trying to figure out how to survive.
ESTRADA JUAREZ: I have never been so - you know, that long of period time away from my daughter. We always together. And there were moments of my days that I wasn't able to take deep breaths because it will hurt, you know? It will hurt a lot. I used to see kids with their moms, and it would break my heart. The only thing I had at the moment - it was a picture of my daughter, video call in her blanket that had - it was with me all the time. I felt like I was dying day by day without her.
SIMON: Damaris, how did you work to get your mother back?
BELLO: I did everything I could, you know? The way she raised me, all the morals and values that she instilled in me, like being a strong person, never letting anyone try to silence you, I think that definitely had a lot to do with the way that I acted to make sure that she wasn't - what felt like they were trying to do was erase her and strip her from her life that she built here.
ESTRADA JUAREZ: My daughter, I - you know, she knocked on multiple doors. She reach out to every single person that we were advised to talk to. And it makes me feel really proud of my daughter that she did not let her voice to be quiet and she spoke, you know, until she fulfilled her need to bring me back.
SIMON: What's it like to be back together but knowing, despite a judge's ruling, you've got, I guess, a hearing or an appearance ahead?
BELLO: Reuniting with my mom, there was so much relief and so much gratitude. I felt that everything that I did was worth it in the end, especially reaching out to all these people who were interested in my mother's story. I've had to repeat what happened several times, and it often felt like I was reliving that moment every single time I've had to explain myself or tell my mom's story. So it was very emotionally taxing, but being with her, it made it worth it in the end. And if I have to say it a thousand times more, I will because I was just so grateful to have her with me. It doesn't erase everything that happened. Kind of just gives you the chance to start the healing process.
SIMON: Damaris Bello and her mother, Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, reunited again in Sacramento. Thank you both very much for speaking with us.
BELLO: Thank you.
ESTRADA JUAREZ: Thank you.
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SIMON: The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to NPR's request for comment. In an earlier statement, DHS called the judge's order to return Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, quote, "another ruling from a Biden-appointed activist judge." Previously, agency officials have said that DACA does not give anyone legal status.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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