RIO GRANDE VALLEY — The Trump administration is allowing José Contreras Diaz, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient who was deported from the Rio Grande Valley to Honduras earlier this year, to return to the United States. Contreras Diaz is expected to arrive in South Texas later this week to reunite with his wife and infant son.

Contreras Diaz, who was 30 at the time of his deportation, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a routine check-in appointment with immigration officials. He was working as a pool technician at the time of his arrest, and his DACA status was current. His family had immigrated to the United States when he was eight years old.

Stacy Tolchin, the attorney representing Contreras Diaz, wrote a letter to ICE arguing that the deportation was illegal because his DACA protections remained valid when he was taken into custody. Tolchin also represents Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a 42-year-old DACA recipient who was deported in February after being arrested during an appointment at an immigration office where she had applied for legal permanent residency.

U.S. District Judge Dena M. Coggins ordered immigration officials to facilitate Estrada Juárez's return, describing the deportation as a "flagrant violation" of DACA protections.

The DACA program was created in 2012 by the Obama administration to allow qualifying young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to receive renewable work permits and protection from deportation if they do not commit crimes. The first Trump administration attempted to scrap the program before the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the move. Since President Trump returned to office, immigration officials have argued that DACA does not protect immigrants from deportation, and the administration has included DACA recipients in its deportation operations.

From January 2025 to November 2025, at least 261 DACA recipients were arrested, including 75 in Texas, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Between 86 and 174 DACA recipients were deported during that period. DHS has said in public statements, "DACA does NOT confer any form of legal status in this country." The agency has also said, "Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they've committed a crime."