ORLANDO, Fla. — After multiple rejections in her bid to stay in the U.S., a mother of two married to a Polk County Marine veteran boarded a plane Friday morning at Orlando International Airport bound for her native Mexico – forced to leave her American family behind.

“I’ve done everything humanly possible that I could have done to stay – over $20,000 spent on immigration lawyers,” said Alejandra Juarez, a 38-year-old undocumented immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for two decades.

On Friday morning, Juarez walked into the airport with her two daughters, pulling a lavender beach-themed suitcase.

As the time grew near for Juarez’s departure, her daughter Pamela, 16, threw herself into her mother’s arms and sobbed. Estela, 8, huddled nearby, clutching her pink smartphone.

“My mom is not a criminal,” Pamela said.

Juarez’s husband, Cuauhtemoc “Temo” Juarez, 41, will remain behind with Pamela. Estela soon will join Alejandra in Mexico because Temo, who runs a flooring business, travels frequently for work.

“It is going to be tough – hopefully, I don’t get in an accident or get hurt,” he said. “That’s one of the fears that I have, if something happens to me, it’s going to get worse for them.”

Temo Juarez, a naturalized citizen from Mexico who served a two-year combat deployment to Iraq with his Marine Corps Reserve unit and twice more overseas during his military career, will be working overtime to support his divided family.

“They’re punishing him for something that I did a long time ago. His only mistake was marrying me,” his wife said.

Her deportation is the culmination of a five-year odyssey since her undocumented status was revealed during a 2013 traffic stop. She was released under an order of supervision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and required to check in with the local ICE office twice a year.

She was a low priority for being kicked out of the country, but that changed after Donald Trump became president. Trump has a “zero tolerance” immigration policy and ICE no longer exempts any undocumented immigrant from potential enforcement.

Even though the policy is hitting close to home, Temo Juarez said he doesn’t blame Trump for tearing his family apart. The self-described “super conservative” Republican voted for Trump but said he didn’t think the billionaire’s election would hasten his wife’s deportation.

“I ate my words,” he said. “Obviously, when Trump came in, everybody is (a) priority now.”

His wife first tried to enter the U.S. illegally in May 1998 by falsely claiming to a Customs and Border Patrol agent that she was an American citizen. Juarez admitted she is Mexican and said she was interrogated by agents and unwittingly signed paperwork to avoid six months at a federal detention center in exchange for being immediately released to return to Mexico. It turned out she had signed a waiver that bans her future rights to a permanent resident card, visa or a path to naturalized citizenship.

Juarez briefly returned to Mexico but soon crossed over into the U.S. unnoticed. She and Temo married in 2000 and settled down in Central Florida. Temo said he knew his wife could eventually be deported if she was caught.

“I knew there was a small possibility it could happen, but I thought there was a bigger chance she could fix her situation. … I still love this country,” Juarez said, adding that he understands his wife “violated our law.”

The Juarez family said their main hope for reuniting in Florida is through a private immigration bill introduced last month by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla.

Soto, whose district includes the Juarez residence, said his office has also written letters to ICE officials championing Juarez’s case but has not heard back.

The private bill, which has not been heard by the House committee, would allow Juarez to return to the U.S., granting her a permanent resident card until broader immigration legislation may pass that would create an opportunity for her to gain citizenship.

At the airport on Friday, Soto greeted Juarez with a hug and apologized that he couldn’t stop her deportation.

“It was so devastating that we couldn’t even get the Trump Administration to work on this case with a military spouse who has done everything to help her husband serve this country,” Soto told reporters.

Juarez declined to reveal where she and her daughter will move but said they will not be living in Mexico City, where she said she grew up in a dysfunctional family and fled because of a death threat.

“What happens if I feel she’s not safe and she’s really suffering, what am I going to do? I’m going to have to send her back here and who’s going to watch her?”

As Temo prepared to say goodbye to his wife, he was focused on mitigating the hardships his family faces.

“I can’t fall into a depression, he said. “They’re counting on me to be strong. They’re counting on me to support them.”

Before Juarez went through the security checkpoint with her family for a private goodbye, she had a message for Trump:

“I hope this makes you happy,” she said. “May God forgive you.”

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