QUERÉTARO — Alejandro Pérez was deported to Mexico on March 11 after spending about five months in a detention center following his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. A few days after the deportation, his wife Janie Pérez and their two young daughters, Luna and Lexie, moved to Mexico to reunite with him.

Janie Pérez said her husband called her a few minutes after leaving the house on his way to work, which she found strange. Alejandro Pérez told her during the call, "I think ICE is here." Janie Pérez said, "We started praying."

Alejandro Pérez was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and first entered the United States without a visa with his father at the age of seven. He returned to Mexico soon after and re-entered the country without authorization a few years later, living about 16 years as an undocumented migrant in the United States.

The couple met in 2019 while working at the same café, he as a cook and she as a waitress. When they decided to get married, they consulted a lawyer to try to obtain legal status for Alejandro Pérez, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Undocumented foreign nationals who entered the United States unlawfully may be barred from obtaining permanent resident status through marriage to a U.S. citizen. Official estimates suggest 1.1 million U.S. citizens are married to an undocumented person.

During his detention, Janie Pérez visited her husband at the detention center, where they put their hands facing each other separated by a pane of glass. At each court hearing, she saw him shackled at the feet and hands with chains around his waist.

"Although he crossed without authorisation, I think he made a morally correct decision when he travelled to the US. He was seeking opportunities and a life away from criminal organisations. All these years he has devoted himself to working and he has no criminal record," Janie Pérez said. The Department of Homeland Security says its priority is to remove "the worst of the worst illegal aliens with criminal records." DHS data shows that under 38% of deportees have been charged or convicted of a crime.

After their three-year-old daughter Luna hugged him at the airport, Alejandro Pérez said, "It can't be explained in words." He also said, "So far I feel like all this is a dream, but I believe in God and I know he did this for a purpose."

Janie Pérez, who does not speak Spanish, said it has been difficult to start from scratch in Mexico. "There is nothing more important than being together," she said.