RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A Texas mother of three who was deported to Mexico is suing the federal government while seeking her immediate return to the United States.
Attorneys for Jessica Treviño Villegas, 34, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas following her deportation in March despite having permission to remain in the country through April 2027 as part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Villegas had previously lived in Alamo, Texas, after coming to the United States from Mexico when she was 7 years old. She had been raising three teenagers, all of whom are U.S. citizens and are set to return to school next month.
"I have lived in this country since I was a little girl," she said in a statement released Thursday. "Ever since I first applied for DACA 14 years ago, I've done everything expected of me. I have renewed my DACA, followed every rule, and never stopped believing this country would do right by me and my family. Instead, I was taken from my children. And now, even after everything, the government is trying to take away the very protections that were supposed to keep me here."
Villegas was arrested in late December by Department of Homeland Security agents in South Texas. She was then detained and placed into removal proceedings, according to the lawsuit.
Villegas then received an order of voluntary departure "under safeguards" in February, with a deadline of March 19 to leave the United States. She remained in DHS custody before being deported to Mexico in March 25, her lawsuit states.
"Petitioner was in valid DACA status at the time she was removed," the filing continues. "Petitioner cannot be lawfully removed while in DACA status. Nevertheless, respondents have refused to facilitate petitioner’s return to the United States and instead have attempted to revoke her DACA status because of her unlawful removal."
The lawsuit, which names DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons as defendants, seeks an order of "immediately returning" Villegas to the United States due to her unlawful removal.
DHS officials sent Villegas a notice to terminate her DACA status last week because she had "engaged in unauthorized travel" outside of the United States on or about March 25 — the same day she had been deported to Mexico, according to the lawsuit.
"Petitioner remains in valid DACA status and separated from her United States citizen children," the filing reads.
Villegas received legal permission to remain in the United States at age 20 under DACA, but the program that has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to temporarily remain in the United States and obtain work permits does not confer legal status. DACA recipients must maintain a clean criminal record and cannot travel outside of the United States.
"My children need their mother and I need them," Villegas said. "I am not giving up — I am fighting to come home, and I will keep fighting for as long as it takes. No family should have to go through what we have been through. I am asking this administration to stop tearing families apart. Let me come home to my kids."
DHS officials said Villegas' husband had been in the country without permission when they were arrested in December following a collision between the couple's vehicle and an unmarked Homeland Security Investigations vehicle. She then "knowingly accepted voluntary departure and waived appeal," according to DHS officials.
"She left the U.S. on March 25, 2026, and will NOT return," agency officials said in a statement.
Villegas' attorney now wants a federal judge to declare her removal as unlawful while ordering the government to facilitate her return to Texas.
"Her DACA remains valid through April 2027," attorney David Rozas said in a statement. "The government had no lawful basis to remove her, and we filed this petition to demand she be brought back home."
Some 86 DACA recipients have been deported during the current Trump administration, while 241 others have been arrested, according to a letter sent by DHS officials in February to Illinois Senator Richard Durbin.
Proponents of immigration rights, meanwhile, said Villegas' case is part of a systematic approach to target DACA recipients.
"Let’s be clear: Jessica did not willingly leave the country," said Tania Chavez, executive director of La Unión del Pueblo Entero. "She was violently detained and illegally deported. The same agency that manufactured this chaos in Jessica’s life is now threatening to cause even more harm by taking away her DACA protections. It’s cruel, unlawful, and we cannot normalize this."
Villegas' current DACA should have protected her, Chavez insisted.
"Sadly, like too many other DACA beneficiaries, Jessica was failed by this administration and the agencies that oversee our immigration system," Chavez said. "We stand with Jessica as she and her legal team as they continue to fight for Jessica’s return. We are hopeful that the relentless community organizing and self-advocacy that Jessica has carried with her over the last seven months will ensure her immediate and safe return home to her family."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Cristina Diciu.
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