A Texas mother, Jessica Treviño, has taken legal action against the federal government after being deported to Mexico despite having authorization to reside in the U.S. She was notified of the termination of her legal status due to ‘unauthorized travel’ linked to her deportation.
Treviño’s attorney initiated the lawsuit, seeking judicial intervention. The case arose when she and her husband were deported in December after federal agents tracked them to a Home Depot parking lot in South Texas. They are currently in Matamoros, Mexico, while their three children, all U.S. citizens, remain with family near the border.
Treviño came to the U.S. at the age of 7 and was allowed to stay under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program at 20. DACA, established in 2012, provides temporary permission to stay and work for those brought to the U.S. as children, but does not grant legal status. DACA recipients must maintain a clean criminal record and cannot leave the U.S. without authorization.
Her attorney, David Rozas, highlighted that her DACA status and work permit were active until April 2027. However, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently issued a notice to terminate her DACA status due to ‘unauthorized travel’ on March 25, 2026, the day DHS deported her. DHS has not commented on the issue.
The government had no lawful basis to remove her, and we filed this petition to demand she be brought back home,Rozas asserted.
A voluntary departure order was issued for Treviño in February by an immigration judge, yet her valid DACA status should have protected her from deportation by DHS.
Treviño expressed her desperation to return, especially as her children prepare to start school. “I would be so blessed to be able to go back home, because that’s what I long for most right now. I’m really desperate. It’s been seven months since I’ve been home,” she stated.
The current administration has deported 86 DACA recipients and arrested 241, as reported in a DHS letter to Sen. Richard J. Durbin. Advocates argue that these actions signify a systematic effort to dismantle DACA protections.
This is what a deliberate, systematic effort to destroy DACA looks like in practice: target recipients one by one, manufacture justifications after the fact, and leave their children to grow up without them,commented Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us.