Juan Manuel Montes, brought to the United States at the age of 9 from Mexico and twice granted deportation protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, was deported in February, USA Today reported.
"Some people told me that they were going to deport me; others said nothing would happen," Montes told USA Today from western Mexico where he has been staying. "I thought that if I kept my nose clean nothing would happen."
Montes was in Calexico, Calif., when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer approached him. He said he left his wallet in a friend's car, but was told by agents he could not retrieve his ID or proof of his DACA status. Within three hours, he was back in Mexico.
President Donald Trump in January said undocumented immigrants in the U.S. protected under the DACA act "shouldn't be very worried."
"They are here illegally. They shouldn't be very worried. I do have a big heart," President Trump told ABC News' David Muir. "We're going to take care of everybody. We're going to have a very strong border. We're gonna have a very solid border. Where you have great people that are here that have done a good job, they should be far less worried. We'll be coming out with policy on that over the next period of four weeks."
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