Alejandro Juarez confirmed up for what ought to have been a routine immigration check-in in Manhattan, and ended up in Mexico. The 39-year-old father of 4, who had lived in america for over twenty years and as soon as labored at Donald Trump's Westchester golf membership, was mistakenly deported after being positioned on the flawed flight by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.His case, now beneath overview by the Division of Homeland Safety, has uncovered obtrusive procedural failures inside America's sprawling deportation equipment, a system so overloaded that one administrative error can destroy a household's life in a single day.
A routine check-in that went south
Alejandro Juarez, 39, had lived in america since he crossed the southern border from Mexico on the age of 16. Over the following twenty years, he constructed a life in Yorktown, Westchester County, New York, along with his spouse, Maria Priego, and their 4 youngsters. His eldest son, aged 20, serves within the US Marines; all 4 youngsters are Americans. Juarez was detained on 15 September after reporting for what was meant to be a routine check-in at ICE's Manhattan places of work at 26 Federal Plaza. He had attended such appointments earlier than with out incident. This time, after officers reviewed his file, he was out of the blue positioned in custody whereas his spouse waited outdoors within the automotive. Based on The New York Instances, Juarez was transferred to Delaney Corridor, a detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. 4 days later, ICE brokers positioned him on a bus to Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport, the place he was meant to board a flight to a detention centre in Arizona. Inner ICE emails later reviewed by The Instances present that as a substitute, he was positioned on the flawed flight, sure for Texas, close to the US-Mexico border. When Juarez landed in Texas, officers unshackled him, handed him a small bag containing his telephone, belt and paperwork, and instructed him to cross a bridge over the Rio Grande into Mexico. As he walked, he thought of his spouse and kids ready in New York. An indication studying “Bienvenidos” welcomed him again into the nation he had left 22 years earlier.“And that's how my journey in america ended,” Juarez stated tearfully throughout a telephone interview with The New York Instances from Mexico.
ICE realises the error
Inside hours of his pressured removing, ICE officers in america started scrambling to find him. Inner communications obtained by The New York Instances reveal a flurry of confusion as brokers realised Juarez had been positioned on the flawed plane and erroneously expelled from the nation. They started contacting detention centres and services throughout a number of states to find out his whereabouts. Beneath federal immigration regulation, most people going through deportation are entitled to a listening to earlier than a choose — a step that Juarez was denied. ICE's actions, in keeping with authorized specialists quoted by The Instances, doubtless violated federal process. On the time of Juarez's scheduled immigration listening to on 25 September, his lawyer, Anibal Romero, appeared earlier than the courtroom. However Juarez was already in Mexico.“That is unprecedented in my 20 years of apply, a person being eliminated with none listening to, leaving even the courtroom and D.H.S. confused,” Romero informed The New York Instances. When Juarez phoned his lawyer from Mexico, Romero instantly knowledgeable the courtroom and ICE representatives. He later informed CNN's Kaitlan Collins that the mishap was “careless” however not malicious.“Proper now I'm working with the Division of Homeland Safety, and credit score to them, that is the primary time I've heard that they've acknowledged it's a mistake,” Romero stated on CNN. “They're attempting to carry him again. It's very uncommon for them to say, we made a mistake. They usually simply say, too dangerous he's undocumented.” A DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed to The New York Instances that ICE had contacted Juarez's lawyer and was “making preparations to fly him again to america.” She added that Juarez would stay in ICE detention till his immigration case is resolved.“The top outcome would be the identical, he won't be able to stay within the U.S. and shall be eliminated following the completion of his proceedings,” McLaughlin stated in her assertion to The Instances, describing him as a “risk to the general public” due to a earlier driving offence.
A life upended and a household in limbo
Juarez's unintentional deportation has left his household struggling to manage. From their house in Westchester County, Maria Priego now works as a maid and the only real breadwinner for his or her three youngest youngsters, aged 10, 12 and 16.“It's been very exhausting as a result of we depended loads on my husband,” Priego informed The New York Instances. “We're unhappy and devastated for what my husband has gone by, and ready for any excellent news from our lawyer.” Since returning to Mexico, Juarez has been dwelling in Puebla, greater than 500 miles from the border, staying along with his dad and mom and serving to his ageing father farm the household land. He spends his days calling his youngsters.“My 10- and 12-year-old youngsters ask me on the telephone: ‘When are you returning, Papi? We miss you. We will't be with out you,'” he stated. Juarez had labored for greater than a decade at Trump Nationwide Golf Membership Westchester, the place he served as a server and meals runner. He was dismissed in 2019, throughout Donald Trump's first time period, when a number of undocumented staff at Trump properties had been terminated. His dismissal was beforehand documented by The Washington Put up. Lately, Juarez labored a number of jobs, as a lodge upkeep engineer and as head of landscaping and upkeep for 2 personal residences in Westchester. His 2022 conviction for driving whereas intoxicated with a toddler within the automotive positioned him on ICE's radar, in keeping with The Instances. Though he was sentenced to 3 years of probation and averted jail, ICE started requiring him to attend periodic check-ins. Till September, these had handed with out problem; he stated some ICE officers had even thanked him for attending and praised his English abilities.
Broader sample and authorized fallout
Juarez's case has revived considerations over the increasing deportation equipment and inner stress at ICE. The Instances reported that officers contained in the company had described being overstretched, with insurance policies pushed by senior White Home adviser Stephen Miller, who had reportedly pushed for as many as 3,000 arrests per day.“Folks make errors, and I believe that's why this must cease. It's changing into chaos,” Romero stated on CNN. An identical incident occurred in March 2025, involving Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador. After judges reversed that “unlawful” deportation, Garcia was returned to america, solely to later face human trafficking expenses, to which he has pleaded not responsible. Based on The New York Instances, a 2022 DHS civil rights workplace report had already warned of such errors, citing the case of one other man deported to Guatemala earlier than a closing removing order had been issued. The report urged ICE to create a system for rectifying mistaken deportations. Former ICE chief counsel Kerry Doyle, who served through the Biden administration, informed The Instances that Juarez's case was unsurprising given present circumstances:“As a result of the quantity of detentions is so excessive and persons are actually stretched skinny within the work that they're doing, it's not stunning or shocking that such a mistake may occur,” she stated. For now, ICE says Juarez will stay detained as soon as he's returned to the US, pending a brand new listening to. His lawyer, Romero, informed each CNN and The Instances that Juarez could qualify for “parole in place”, a particular kind of aid for quick family of US army service members, a standing tied to his eldest son's position within the Marines. After twenty years of sending cash house to construct his dad and mom' home in Puebla, Juarez now finds himself dwelling there once more — this time not by alternative however by the drive of a bureaucratic blunder.
