On a typical Tuesday morning in Riverside County, California, Juan Pena dropped his daughter off at high school, unaware that his day would take a drastic turn. By noon, he found himself deported to Mexico, leaving behind a life he had built over 24 years in the United States.
His deportation is just one of many cases that have become all too familiar under the Trump administration's expanded immigration policies, which are now sweeping across the nation, upending lives and families with little warning.
Since President Donald Trump's return to office last week, deportations have surged across the United States, leaving many undocumented migrants living in constant fear.
The new administration's tougher stance on immigration has sparked widespread concern, particularly among those living without legal status, knowing their lives could be upended at any moment.
At 8:00 on Tuesday morning, Juan Pena, was dropping his daughter off at high school in California. By noon, he had been deported to Mexico.
"They allowed me to drop her off at school, and then detained me. That was this morning, and now here I am. It's crazy, but it's true," Pena said.
Admitting to a past misdemeanor conviction from 2020, which made him a priority target under the new enforcement regime, after 24 years of undocumented residency in the U.S., mainly working as a painter.
President Trump's nationwide expansion of "expedited removal" - previously limited to U.S. border regions - now bypasses immigration courts and deports detainees directly.
Juan mentioned that he wasn't made to sign anything and was swiftly taken out of the country.
"They are raiding schools, on the streets, in shops, on worksites. People aren't leaving their homes because migration authorities are everywhere," Pena said.
Mexico's president says more than 4,000 deportees from the United States were received in this country during Donald Trump's first week back in office, as U.S. federal agents have more than doubled the number of daily immigration arrests during nationwide raids.
Apart from land deportations, military planes have transported U.S. deportees back to Central Mexico and other Latin American countries, including Guatemala, Colombia, and Cuba.
However, Juan's main worry lies north of the border - his 16-year-old daughter, for whom he was the sole caregiver.
"My daughter is distraught. I'm a single father, and my children live with me, so if my heart is broken, imagine how they feel," he said.
As deportations continue to rise, their ripple effects are being felt across the Western Hemisphere.
Father in California deported after dropping daughter off at school
