Latest news with #ReginaHiguera
CBS News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
As ICE raids ramped up across L.A., a grandmother who lived in the U.S. for 36 years chose to self-deport and leave her family behind
Los Angeles — As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stepped up raids across Los Angeles in recent weeks, Julie Ear and her family made a difficult drive to Tijuana International Airport just south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Ear's mother, Regina Higuera, had lived in the United States for 36 years. But on this particular morning in early June, she left her home, her children and grandchildren — all of whom are U.S. citizens — and headed back to her birthplace in Mexico. "When the ICE raids started picking up on other states, we knew that we were going to get hit eventually," Ear told CBS News. "Nobody's safe." Since President Trump began his second term, ICE has arrested more than 100,000 people as of early June, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News. The Trump administration has also encouraged undocumented migrants to self-deport. Last month, it announced it would offer free airline tickets and a $1,000 incentive to some migrants who chose to leave the U.S. and return to their home countries on their own accord. Ear said her mother chose to self-deport because "she wanted to make sure that she was in control of her life." "She didn't like the uncertainty of somebody coming into her house, or her job, or being pulled over, and just telling her, 'Oh, now you're in Mexico,'" Ear said of her mother. Higuera had crossed into the U.S. illegally when she was only 15 and went straight to work in Los Angeles' garment factories, Ear said. She had intended to stay for just a period of time, earn enough money and then return to Mexico. But then she met her husband and started a family. "She's been contributing to the economy, paying taxes every year," Ear said. "There's no benefit for being undocumented, they don't get benefits. She's not going to get a pension. She doesn't have a 401(k). She never got food stamps. She didn't get welfare. People want to come here to work. And, you know, it's not illegal to want to work." Now, recently reunited with her own mother in Guerrero, Mexico, Higuera said nearly everything outside of her new home is unfamiliar. "I'm happy because I'm no longer stressed," Higuera told CBS News from her new home in Mexico of her decision to leave the U.S. "But there are moments when I think about all of you [her family] and I get sad." The better life she worked to build in the U.S. is now being carried on by her children. "That's why I have such a strong daughter," Higuera said of Ear. "From a very young age, I taught her, we have to be strong no matter what situation that we find ourselves in." Ear said she talks and texts with her mother daily. "Sometimes I forget that she's so far because we talk so much," Ear said. "But then that is when the family thing happens, that's when I'm like, 'Oh my God, you're actually gone. You're not actually here.'"
CBS News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
South L.A. woman self-deports to Mexico, leaving behind her family
A mother from South Los Angeles made the tough decision to self-deport to her hometown in Mexico after spending the last 36 years in the U.S. The woman's daughter, Julia Ear, documented the moment her family left their home for Tijuana on Saturday as the protest against immigration raids broke out across L.A. "This was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Ear's mother Regina Higuera said. After arriving in Tijuana, Higuera took a flight to her hometown, Guerrero, Mexico, a place she hadn't visited in more than two decades. "She made this decision out of fear," Ear said. Ear added that her mother made the decision to self-deport in February, shortly after President Trump promised to ramp up deportations in his second term. "That was the one thing my mom was really scared of, to get deported without her consenting to it," Ear said. "That was her biggest fear." Higuera, who was a garment worker in L.A. since she moved to the country at the age of 15, left behind her three kids, three grandkids and her husband. "This is the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life," she said in Spanish. Now in Guerrero, Higuera sometimes calls her self-deportation her retirement. Before moving, she built a small home in Mexico and had family to support her. "Nobody chooses to be illegal on purpose," Ear said. "Anyone would choose to be legal in a heartbeat." When she arrived, she hugged her mother for the first time in 22 years. She understands that self-deportation isn't for everyone. "I don't know if it's the best decision or not for other people," Higuera said in Spanish. "But, since I decide my life, it was the best decision for my daughters and I." Ear said her mom tried to fix her legal status, but the process became too expensive for the family. "She had her work permit," Ear said. "That's why she had her Social Security. She's in the system. She's paying taxes." Although the Trump administration offered free flights and $1,000 to people who self-deported through Project Homecoming, Ear said her mother didn't contact the government before leaving. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced that 64 people had opted for self-deportation on the first charter flight of Project Homecoming. "We don't want to be a walking advertisement to promote self-deportation," Higuera said. "I don't want to be that. But, I also don't want to tell people to stay and endure the abuse and violence that is happening." The family said they are still living in fear of losing other friends and family to ICE raids, including Ear's step-dad, who will make the move to Mexico in a couple of months.
