Migrant dad facing deportation after taking wrong turn and accidentally leaving US: attorney
Erick Hernandez came to the US from El Salvador when he was 14, making him a recipient of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, NBC San Diego reported.
But he lost those protections when he left the US on June 1 without permission — which he blamed on a wrong turn while working as a rideshare driver on a routine journey near the border in Los Angeles.
'When that happened, he lost everything, basically,' his attorney, Valerie Sigamani, said of the dad who was detained and fast-tracked for deportation. 'He no longer has DACA,' he said.
Erick Hernandez, a DACA recipient who came to the US two decades ago when he was 14 years old, crossed the US-Mexico border by accident in San Ysidro on June 1 while working as a rideshare driver, his lawyer said.
NBC San Diego
'His attempt to come back to the United States and say, 'This was a mistake. It was an accident. I was not trying to leave the United States,' was ignored,' the lawyer said.
Hernandez was in the process of gaining legal status in the US after marrying his wife Nancy Rivera, who is a US citizen, late last year. His wife is also expecting their second child.
Hernandez married US citizen Nancy Rivera, who is expecting their second child next month.
NBC San Diego
However, Hernandez's DACA eligibility was wiped because those in the program have to seek prior approval before leaving the US.
'I'm just worrying,' his pregnant wife said. 'I'm just worried that he's, if he gets deported, like, how I'm going to manage everything by myself.
'It's just a lot of, you know, stress, anxiety that I have.'
'He was my main support, you know?' she added. 'It was, I just think one second that, you know, everything changed.'
Hernandez is currently being held at Otay Mesa Detention Center. The status of his deportation wasn't immediately clear.
'He's afraid of returning to El Salvador,' his lawyer said.
'He doesn't know that country. He hasn't been there since he was a kid, so he has no idea what it's like to live in El Salvador.'
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