WASHINGTON, D.C. — FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement after a federal court ordered the government to facilitate the safe return of Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez:

“We are thrilled for Maria and her family and deeply saddened that it ever came to this. This ruling confirms what we already knew: the government acted unlawfully. DACA recipients deserve to live with dignity—not under threat of deportation—and this administration has increasingly targeted them. The government must comply with this order immediately and ensure her safe return.

“Maria’s case is not isolated, and we call on the government to halt the troubling rise in DACA recipients being detained and even deported, despite the program’s protections.  DACA has long shown that providing legal status benefits families and our country. As lawmakers consider tens of billions in additional funding for ICE and CBP—on top of the roughly $150 billion already allocated—this case is a stark reminder of the human cost of expanding these already overreaching systems. 

“We should be building pathways to citizenship, not subjecting people like Maria and her daughter Damaris to family separation.”