Jessica Treviño, a 34-year-old mother of three, was deported to Mexico in December despite having legal permission to stay in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Treviño, who was brought to the country as a child, had received legal permission to remain in the U.S. at the age of 20.

Background

Treviño and her husband were arrested by federal agents in a Home Depot parking lot in South Texas and deported to Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville. Their three children, all U.S. citizens, are living with family on the U.S. side of the border.

As a DACA recipient, Treviño must maintain a clean criminal record and is not allowed to travel outside the United States. However, she was deported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in March, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sent her a notice of intent to terminate her status for “unauthorized travel outside of the United States”.

Lawsuit

Treviño’s attorney, David Rozas, has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, asking a federal judge to intervene and declare her expulsion unlawful. The lawsuit also seeks to order the government to facilitate Treviño’s return to the U.S. and allow her DACA status to remain valid.

Rozas argues that the government had no lawful basis to remove Treviño, and that her deportation was a result of a deliberate and systematic effort to destroy the DACA program. Treviño expressed her desire to return home, saying, “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.”

Advocates for DACA recipients, such as Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, argue that Treviño’s deportation is part of a larger pattern of targeting recipients and leaving their children to grow up without them.

Original reporting: Texas Tribune (HLL/CB) — read the source article.