Erick Hernandez-Rodriguez said he took the wrong freeway exit and accidentally crossed over into Mexico from San Diego.
Now the U.S. government says he “self-deported” and illegally tried to re-enter the U.S. He has been detained and is slated for deportation to El Salvador, a country he has not lived in since he was 14. Hernandez-Rodriguez, 34, was in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program, or DACA, which grants work permits and deportation protections to certain immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
But Hernandez-Rodriguez is currently in a detention facility in Otay Mesa, slated for expedited removal. His wife is expected to give birth in California to their second child before the end of the month.
The federal government is not showing any leniency in his case, according to his attorney Valerie Sigamani. Hernandez-Rodriguez works part-time as an Uber driver and was trying to drop off a passenger near the border but missed his exit. He then drove into Mexico, but when he tried to circle back into California, he was arrested.
Sigamani estimates he was out of the U.S. for less than 30 minutes.
Hernandez-Rodriguez’s status under DACA provided some protection to undocumented immigrants in the past, but that has changed under the Trump administration.
“DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation.”
Sigamani said her client’s DACA status should show that Hernandez-Rodriguez had been working in the U.S. and not trying to sneak in.
“It seems like at this moment, there isn’t that much mercy towards people who make mistakes,” she said. “I would hope that CBP agents would still understand and know that this is an accident, that this person didn’t intend to abandon their claims, but they are a good person, and they accidentally exited the U.S.”
His story was first reported by NBC News.
California is home to about 150,000 DACA recipients. The Hernandez-Rodriguez case is the latest example of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.
Ahead of his second term in office, Trump said he would “work with Democrats on a plan” to help DACA recipients remain in the country. But once elected president, Trump quickly moved to end DACA. The program narrowly survived when the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that his administration had done so improperly.
A case that challenges DACA’s legality is expected to reach the Supreme Court, where some legal experts predict the conservative majority may strike it down.
In early June, Javier Diaz Santana, 32, another DACA recipient, was detained while working at a car wash. Despite explaining his situation, he was taken to a federal detention facility in Texas and granted bond by an immigration judge.
In a handwritten declaration to the court and provided to The Times by his attorney, Hernandez-Rodriguez said he was working as a rideshare driver on May 31 and picked up some fares after a soccer game ended in Los Angeles. He followed his GPS directions and it told him he was approaching his exit from the freeway, but he missed it. He tried to get off at the next exit, but it was blocked by police due to a car accident.
He thought he would have another chance to turn around, but then he was in line to cross the U.S./Mexico border in San Ysidro.
“I asked some Mexican officers and I explained to them what had happened,” Hernandez-Rodriguez said in his declaration. “They told me that they would help me so I could get back in.”
The officers directed him to the border, but he still was lost. He spoke to American officials at the border and showed them his DACA documentation, and they let him through one checkpoint. His attorney said he had a picture of his employment authorization document that legally allows him to work in the U.S.
According to his declaration, border officials then asked him to park his car and go into an office to check in with border officials. They took his fingerprints, Sagamani said, and put Hernandez-Rodriguez in a room with three border officers. One of the officials said he could go back into the U.S. if he paid them $800, according to his declaration and his attorney.
Sagamani said that the officials were asking for a bribe. Hernandez-Rodriguez said he didn’t have the money.
“They told him, ‘You can call somebody and ask them for the money and then they can give it to us,’” Sigamani said.
When it was clear that he could not pay them, another official handcuffed him and took him into custody, Sigamani said.
In a statement, McLaughlin said, “Erick Hernandez Rodriguez, an illegal alien from Mexico, self-deported and then tried to illegally re-enter the U.S. On June 1, 2025, CBP officers arrested Rodriguez as he tried to illegally cross the southern border.”
Hernandez-Rodriguez is originally from El Salvador, not Mexico, according to a copy of his tourist visa.
In response to the claim that a border official asked Hernandez-Rodriguez for a bribe, McLaughlin said, “CBP takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, investigates thoroughly, and holds employees accountable when policies are violated. This matter has been referred to the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) for review.”
On July 14, an immigration judge ordered Hernandez-Rodriguez to be removed from the country after considering a credible fear determination, a screening process given to asylum seekers who may face persecution in their home country based on their race, religion or political opinion. Hernandez-Rodriguez said he is worried that he will be singled out for discussing his political beliefs. The court considered testimony and evidence submitted, but Sigamani said that her client did not get to speak with the judge.
“They’re not even letting him see a judge,” Sigamani said. “I think that’s intentional.”
