Alejandro Juarez, 39, a former worker at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, New York, experienced a significant procedural error that resulted in his deportation to Mexico. The incident occurred when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers inadvertently placed him on the wrong plane during a scheduled transfer to an Arizona detention facility.
Juarez, who had been employed at the golf club for over a decade, was shackled by ICE agents and flown to Texas, from where he was forced to cross a bridge into Mexico without having the opportunity to appear before an immigration judge. Speaking from Puebla, Mexico, Juarez expressed his dismay at being deported without the chance to defend himself in court, marking an abrupt end to his life in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acknowledged the mistake, stating that Juarez was "removed to Mexico early because he was put on the incorrect transport." This error has had a profound impact on Juarez's family, who remain in New York. His wife, María Priego, has taken on additional work to support their four U.S.-born children, one of whom serves in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Internal communications within ICE revealed a frantic effort to locate Juarez after it was realized he had been sent to the wrong destination. The agency is currently arranging for his return to the United States to proceed with formal deportation hearings, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The case has cast a spotlight on procedural issues within ICE, particularly as the agency has been under pressure to expedite deportations. Juarez had been terminated from the Trump club in 2019 amid a removal of undocumented employees, but he continued to work other jobs to sustain his family. A DUI arrest in 2022, which involved two of his children, brought him under ICE's scrutiny. Despite Juarez's guilty plea to a misdemeanor and adherence to probation requirements, he was labeled a "public safety threat" and detained.
Juarez's attorney, Aníbal Romero, described the situation as "unprecedented" in his two decades of practice, with the individual being removed without a hearing and leaving both the court and DHS confused. The case has prompted criticism of ICE's internal processes during an era marked by a push for increased deportations. Earlier in the year, a similar incident occurred when another individual was mistakenly deported.
