Detentions of DACA recipients show they're not shielded from Trump's mass deportations

The Trump administration said it does not consider DACA a "form of legal status in this country," though current recipients are legally allowed to remain in the U.S.

Missing an exit while driving on a San Diego freeway upended the life of Erick Hernandez, a DACA recipient who is now at risk of being deported to El Salvador, a country he hasn't seen in 20 years.

Hernandez, 34, was giving two passengers a ride from Los Angeles to San Ysidro, known as the "most southern community in California" because it is so close to the Mexican border, on June 1 as a driver for a ride-share service.

But he accidentally ended up in Tijuana, Mexico, after missing an exit, NBC San Diego reported this week. Because DACA recipients are not allowed to leave the country without prior approval, federal immigration authorities took Hernandez into custody when he tried to return to the U.S.

Hernandez’s case is one of the most recent showing how fears of possible deportation are becoming a reality for some undocumented young adults with legal permission to work and study in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

"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," Hernandez's attorney, Valerie Sigamani, told NBC San Diego. “When that happened, he lost everything."