Protected but deported anyway: How Trump is targeting DACA dreamers

Jose Contreras believed his DACA status protected him from deportation, but the Trump administration deported him anyway. He was expelled to Honduras hours after a routine immigration hearing, missing his son's birth.

Contreras is one of hundreds of DACA dreamers deported under Trump's renewed immigration crackdown.

What is DACA and who does it protect

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a 2012 program shielding roughly 500,000 people who arrived in America as children. Known as "dreamers," they lack citizenship or residency but call the US their only home. The program lets them live and work legally while pursuing a path to permanent status.

At his hearing, Contreras said officials laughed when he requested a stay extension because his wife was about to give birth. "They looked at me like I had a third eye," he told AFP. He spent 118 days in Honduras before a court order allowed his return.

How many dreamers has Trump deported

The Trump administration has arrested at least 343 DACA recipients and deported at least 86, according to the advocacy group Home is Here. The figures come from a Department of Homeland Security letter sent to Congress. Contreras was handcuffed at his hearing on January 2 and flown to Honduras that same day.

"I was a DACA recipient. I was a dreamer. Then I got deported," Contreras said. His son was born in Texas in late February while he was still abroad. "I fell to the ground. And then I cried," he said, describing the moment he learned he had missed the birth.

Why are courts calling these deportations illegal

Maria de Jesus Estrada, 42, faced a similar ordeal. She arrived in California at 15 and was arrested by six immigration agents during a hearing she attended with her daughter. She asked for a moment to hug her daughter before being taken into custody, then was deported to Mexico that day.

Officials said both Contreras and Estrada were removed under old deportation orders issued when they were minors. US courts later ruled both deportations illegal and ordered their return, which happened. "The cases of Jose Contreras and Maria de Jesus Estrada are evidence of this administration's unlawful and inhumane distortion of the law," said Stacy Tolchin, the attorney who represented them.

Is DACA being dismantled without formally ending it

Trump tried to end DACA outright during his first term, but courts blocked the move. He is now pushing Congress for a permanent immigration overhaul instead. "We are seeing this administration dismantling DACA through delay, denials, detentions and deportations," said Todd Schulte, president of the advocacy group FWD.us.

Not every dreamer has regained their footing. Jessica Trevino, who came from Mexico at age seven, was arrested outside church in Alamo, Texas, on December 28. Video of agents roughing up her husband went viral online.

What happens to families separated by DACA deportations

Trevino and her husband were deported to Mexico in March and are awaiting a US court hearing on their case. Their three children remained behind with relatives while the couple waits in Matamoros. Trevino hopes to return in time for her daughter's 15th birthday in August.

"Although I was not born in the United States, I have lived here my whole life," Trevino said. "Sometimes I go to sleep thinking that I will wake up at home."