NEW — From deportee to rising soccer star: How Lizandro Claros Saravia, 22, broke into El Salvador's top fútbol league after a demoralizing deportation from the U.S.

"Deportation really made me strong," he told @CBSNews.

With @JustoEscribe: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/soccer-star-salvadoran-immigrant-deported-by-us-lizandro-claros-saravia/

If the routine check-in with ICE in the summer of 2017 had gone as they had for nearly a decade, Lizandro would be playing college soccer in North Carolina.

His former coaches in the U.S. think he would likely have been drafted by an @MLS team.

Instead, Lizandro and his brother were deported 7 months after Pres. Trump took office and implemented an immigration enforcement regime that did not exempt any undocumented immigrant from deportation—not even a college-bound teenager with a clean record and a soccer scholarship.

Many expect Lizandro to one day join El Salvador's national team. He is challenging stereotypes assigned to young, working-class Salvadoran men, often recruited by the country's warring gangs. He is a beacon of hope for kids in his rural village.

But he's not completely happy.

Lizandro's parents and siblings remain in Maryland — but he and his brother, Diego, are banned from entering the U.S. for another 8 years.

"Being in the first division is like seeing a little bit of light, but until I am reunited with my family I won't be completely happy."