Bee, ABC10 Seek Professor Johnson's Insights After Sacramento DACA Recipient is Deported

Professor Kevin R. Johnson spoke to the Sacramento Bee and ABC10 about a Sacramento woman who was deported in February after arriving for an appointment at Sacramento’s downtown immigration office as part of her effort to obtain permanent legal resident status.

Johnson told ABC10 that what happened to Maria de Jesus Estrada, who came to the United States more than 25 years ago and received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, raises serious legal questions.

“The Supreme Court’s made it clear that, generally speaking, a non-citizen has a right to due process before they are removed from the country,” Johnson said. Estrada Juarez would have a right to a hearing, he said, “because she’s already been found eligible and assigned relief to remain in the county lawfully under the (DACA) policy.”

Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson is the director of the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies and also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024.