He tried to ‘self-deport.’ U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested him anyway

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — In February, just a few weeks after President Donald Trump returned to Washington for a second term, Jose Luis Perez Lopez decided to leave the country.

Perez — a Mexican citizen with no legal status in the United States — attempted to walk across the bridge from Roma to Miguel Aleman.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested him.

“He tried to do the right thing,” Assistant Federal Public Defender Yvonne M. Gomez said on July 15, when Perez appeared in court for sentencing. “He’s paid attention to the news. He’s paid attention to: ‘People need to just leave, self-deport. It’s better for you if you self-deport.’”

Gomez questioned why the government decided to prosecute Perez for attempting to leave the country.

“Mr. Perez actually was at the bridge,” Gomez said. “And he was trying to get to Mexico.”

Prosecutors provided her with video, Gomez said, that showed Customs and Border Protection stopping Perez.

“They asked him a question. He said he was from Mexico,” Gomez said. “So that’s why they brought him back in and prosecuted him.”

Officers stopped Perez “while conducting southbound enforcement,” according to the criminal complaint against him.

Why they decided to arrest Perez rather than simply allow him to cross the border remains unclear.

Thomas D. Homan, the Trump administration’s border czar, spent months warning people without legal status in the United States to self-deport.

“If you want to self-deport, you should self-deport,” Homan told Fox News host Sean Hannity in November. “Because, again, we know who you are. And we’re going to come and find you.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security repeated that message in February, when the government spent millions on ads that urged people to self-deport.

“President Trump has a clear message for those that are in our country illegally: Leave now,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the ad. “If you don’t, we will find you. And we will deport you. 

The government also launched an app, CBP Home, that allowed people to register with the government before they self-deport.

A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection declined to answer questions about Perez’s case or self-deportation on the record.

“There’s really no process as far as self-deportation,” said attorney Douglas A. A’Hern of McAllen, who worked for Customs and Border Protection before he became a lawyer. “If you’re encountered and you’re in the United States, it doesn’t seem to matter if you’re walking south or north. Or how close your proximity to the border is. They’re going to pick you up and charge you.”

A’Hern said he’s come across cases where the government detained pregnant women and people with tuberculosis rather than letting them leave the country.

“Right now, there really is not a lot of evaluation that’s going on,” A’Hern said. “It’s almost like a zero tolerance-type policy.”

It’s possible that Perez’s lengthy immigration history prompted his arrest.

Perez pleaded guilty to illegal entry, a federal misdemeanor, in 2018.

Border Patrol arrested Perez again in March 2024, when he crossed the Rio Grande near Roma.

Agents discovered that Perez had a nearly 10-year-old conviction for possession of cocaine, according to the criminal complaint against him.

Perez also had a lengthy immigration history that included three deportations, five voluntary returns and six expulsions under Title 42, a law that allows the government to expel people for public health reasons.

“He has a daughter — that he hasn’t seen since he was deported in 2014 — in North Carolina,” Assistant Federal Public Defender Brian D. Buehler said in September 2024, when Perez appeared in court for sentencing. “I guess the daughter’s mother doesn’t really permit much contact between Mr. Perez and her, even remotely by FaceTime or the internet. And she just turned 18, so really he’s missed the last 10 years of her childhood.”

Perez just wanted to work, Buehler said, and make his way back to North Carolina.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa suggested that Perez’s daughter visit him in Mexico.

“Please don’t put yourself back in prison in the United States again, Mr. Perez,” Hinojosa said. “You’ve been deported several times. This will continue to happen. The periods will be longer and longer every time that you spend in prison, so please don’t do this to yourself anymore.”

The government deported Perez on Sept. 30, 2024. About three months later, he waded across the Rio Grande near Roma.

Perez remained in the United States until Feb. 8, 2025, when he attempted to self-deport.

“Mr. Perez knows that he did wrong,” said Gomez, the public defender. “As far as trying to come back into the United States.”

Perez took whatever work he could find, Gomez said, from cleaning houses to construction.

“But, in the moment of everything happening in the news, he felt a need to self-deport,” Gomez said. “So he actually went — he was trying to do that.”

U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton sentenced Perez to eight months in prison.

After serving his sentence, Perez will be deported again.