Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Francisco Hernandez-Corona, a 34-year-old undocumented Harvard graduate, and his U.S. citizen husband, Irving, self-deported to Puerto Vallarta, citing intensified ICE enforcement under the new administration.
Francisco Hernandez-Corona, a 34-year-old undocumented immigrant and Harvard graduate from Los Angeles, and his U.S. citizen husband, Irving Hernandez-Corona, announced they had chosen to self-deport from the United States and resettle in Puerto Vallarta, citing a surge in immigration enforcement that made life in the U.S. untenable.
The couple says that after the new administration took office in January, they began to notice a marked intensification of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, including more frequent street patrols and workplace raids. “We started seeing ICE everywhere and people sent to El Salvador,” Francisco recalled, describing the growing sense of vulnerability among undocumented communities in Southern California.
Irving Hernandez-Corona, who is a U.S. citizen, spoke of the psychological toll the heightened enforcement took on his husband. “There would be knocks at the door and he would be scared and be terrified,” Irving said, explaining that each unexpected knock became a source of panic and dread for Francisco, who lived in constant fear of detention and deportation.
Faced with the prospect of Francisco’s arrest, legal counsel urged the couple to cancel their honeymoon plans to Puerto Rico and advised that Francisco might be detained if he attempted international travel on his pending status adjustments. Left with no viable path to legalization, they made the difficult decision to self-deport. Three weeks ago, the couple boarded a flight to Mexico’s west coast and arrived in Puerto Vallarta with only the clothes on their backs and a determination to start anew.
Upon disembarking in Puerto Vallarta, Francisco says they were met with an outpouring of warmth from local residents. “(Mexicans) all were saying, ‘Welcome back home! You belong here,’” he said, adding that the embrace of the community stood in stark contrast to the fear and hostility they experienced in Los Angeles. Although relieved to feel safe for the first time in months, the couple admits they still grieve the family and life they left behind in the United States.
Francisco’s journey to academic success belies the hardship of his early life. After arriving in the U.S. at age ten—crossing the desert with a smuggler at his father’s direction—he excelled in school in Lennox, California, and was accepted to Harvard University in 2009. There, he studied clinical psychology and graduated in 2013, becoming one of the few undocumented students ever to earn a degree from the prestigious institution.
His childhood trek through the desert remains one of his most vivid memories. “The worst three days of my life, I remember every moment walking through the desert,” Francisco said. “Nobody asked me if this is what I want to do. I didn’t have a choice,” he added, underscoring the perilous circumstances that defined his early years in the United States.
Tragedy struck during Francisco’s senior year of high school when his mother died after a battle with a rare disease. As grief and uncertainty threatened to derail his future, his teachers and mentors stepped in to support him, ensuring he could complete his education and pursue opportunities that once seemed impossible.
Following graduation, Francisco applied first for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) under the Obama administration and later for a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) visa, which he was eligible for due to documented abuse he and his mother suffered at the hands of his father. However, chronic delays in the immigration court system and a permanent bar on reentry—triggered by his two illegal border crossings—left him in legal limbo, unable to regularize his status despite his credentials and contributions to society.
After marrying Irving last fall, the couple briefly held hope that marriage could offer a path to citizenship for Francisco. Instead, U.S. immigration officials informed them that his permanent bar rendered him ineligible to adjust status from within the country. “Because of the choice my dad made when I was a child, U.S. law says it doesn’t matter. I don’t care that you were bleeding in the desert alone. You can no longer stay in a place that you call home,” Francisco said, paraphrasing the blunt legal rationale he was given.
Sitting together one evening after their hopes were dashed, Francisco turned to Irving and said, “Then, I guess we have to leave.” With heavy hearts, they packed their lives into suitcases and embarked on a journey that would lead them away from their home of more than two decades.
Now living in Puerto Vallarta, the couple works remotely for U.S.-based employers and is acclimating to a new routine of morning strolls along the Malecón and weekend excursions to nearby fishing villages. Francisco hopes to visit the Mexican cemetery where his mother’s ashes were laid to rest—a pilgrimage he had postponed for years, fearing he would never be able to return legally.
Their story lays bare the human cost of escalating immigration enforcement in the United States and raises difficult questions about the fate of mixed-status couples under policies that differentiate sharply between citizens and undocumented residents. As Francisco and Irving build a new life in Mexico, they cling to a shared dream: one day returning to the United States to raise a family and send their children to Harvard, a goal that now feels both more distant and more precious than ever.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Francisco Hernandez-Corona, a 34-year-old undocumented Harvard graduate, and his U.S. citizen husband, Irving, self-deported to Puerto Vallarta, citing intensified ICE enforcement under the new administration.
