By admin 
McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A Texas DACA recipient who was arrested and deported by ICE before being allowed to return to the U.S. only to be rearrested upon re-entry, has been released from detention.
Read more California mayor accused of acting as an illegal agent for China, spreading propaganda
José Contreras Diaz, 30, of Edinburg, Texas, as released Wednesday from the Port Isabel Detention Center in the South Texas border town of Los Fresnos, where he had been held since April 29, the national immigration group FWD.us says.
“I would not wish what I’ve been through on anyone. They detained me, sent me to a country I barely remember, and then gave me hope — the hope that I could come home, see my family, and hold my son again. Then that hope was taken away,” Diaz said in a statement issued by FWD.us.
The arrest, detention and re-arrest of Diaz by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement adds to the growing number of arrests of DACA recipients, which is raising concern among the immigrant community.
DHS told Border Report on Friday that having DACA will not protect migrants from deportation.
In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said: “The fact is Jose Contreras Diaz is an illegal alien from Honduras who has a final order of removal from a Department of Justice immigration judge. He chose to remain illegally in the U.S. DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country. He has been released on an order of supervision with required ICE check-ins. The end result will be the same — he will not be able to remain in the U.S.”
DACA, short for Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, is an Obama-era program that protects from deportation immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. It also allows them to work. DACA recipients, often referred to as “Dreamers,” must renew their status every two years.
The Trump administration has tried to eliminate the program but that was struck down by the Supreme Court. However, the Trump administration has stopped all new DACA applications.
Last month, a Board of Immigration Appeals ruling indicated that DACA status no longer guarantees protection from removal proceedings or deportation.
That ruling has “sounded the alarm for many Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients,” according to the National Immigration Law Center.
“What the government should do is stop their attacks on DACA recipients, stop making false statements that DACA does not confer deportation protection, and cease its attacks on the DACA program,” FWD.us President Todd Schulte said.
“We are both overjoyed that José is home and that this particular injustice has been corrected and appalled that this situation ever occurred. It remains outrageous that José was wrongfully arrested and deported, and we cannot lose sight that ICE rearrested him upon his flight back to the U.S. Correcting an injustice is not the same as undoing it,” Schulte said.
Diaz was arrested April 29 after his plane touched down in Harlingen, Texas. U.S. authorities had flown him back to the United States after his lawyers said his deportation in January back to his birth country of Honduras was illegal because he was a DACA recipient in good standing.
Read more What Durham County’s $1 billion proposed budget with tax rate increase would prioritize in 2026-2027
He had been arrested and deported when he attended a mandatory immigration meeting. He was flown out of the country weeks before his son, Mateo, was born in February. And just as he was about to meet him, he was re-arrested and held for a week by ICE before being released Wednesday and finally reuniting with his family.
“It has been the hardest thing my family and I have ever experienced, and words cannot fully capture it. But I am home now. I got to hold my son Mateo and hug my family again. After everything, looking forward to that moment is what kept me going,” Diaz said. “From here on, I just want to move forward with my life.”
Agents told Diaz he and his siblings had deportation orders since he was 8 when his mother apparently missed an immigration court appointment, the Texas Tribune reports.
His sister Emily Barahona said in a statement: “There aren’t words to express what it means to have my brother back home. We waited months for this moment, living every single day with the fear and uncertainty of what would happen next. After he was rearrested last week, even though ICE granted him parole, I feared the worst. But today, when we picked him up at the bus station and saw him hold Mateo for the first time, it meant everything to our family. We are whole again, and I am so grateful.”
“José should never have been detained or deported in the first place because his DACA status was valid and his parole was granted. It has been a long and difficult road, but I’m so glad he is home with his family now,” his lawyer Stacy Tolchin said in a statement.
That is the similar sentiment that a McAllen lawyer representing another DACA recipient from the Rio Grande Valley who is currently detained has told Border Report.
“She has DACA status, which is still valid here in our country and to be locked up is just something that is devastating,” Carlos Garcia said of his client, Jenniffer England, earlier this week.
England, 32, a nurse’s assistant also with DACA status who came from Mexico at age 4, was arrested in February for driving with a suspended license. She is being held at ICE’s El Valle Detention facility in Raymondville, Texas. A final immigration hearing scheduled for Wednesday was postponed until May 19.
Garcia, told Border Report that she remains behind bars at the detention facility.
“People with valid DACA status should not be deported, as we’ve seen recently where the government deported people with DACA and then brought them back only to detain them again. And so this is all in flux to me. This is unlawful, but it’s what is going on right now now,” Garcia said.
NOW PLAYING
In response to questions from Border Report, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said this of England’s detention: “She will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
Read more Tax increases, internal cost-cutting, upgrades proposed in Rocky Mount’s 2026-27 budget
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].