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DEPORTATION FIGHT NOT OVER JUST YET

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Akron Beacon Journal (OH)

FEDERAL BOARD RELEASES AKRON WOMAN FROM PRISON, BUT GOVERNMENT WANTS TO ARGUE FOR SENDING HER TO EL SALVADOR, WHICH SHE LEFT AT AGE 6

Author: Julie Wallace, Beacon Journal staff writer

Sandra Orantes-Cruz, the 30-year-old woman who was on the brink of deportation to El Salvador months ago, is settling in with her family in Akron, but it looks like she's going to have another fight to stay.

Orantes-Cruz was overjoyed when her deportation order was overturned and she was released from federal custody just before Christmas.

It was the first time in three years she was able to spend the holidays with her three young sons.

But her elation may be short-lived: Immigration officials have filed notice that they didn't know about the hearing that led to her release because the Board of Immigration Appeals mailed notice of the hearing to the wrong address.

So, the government now wants the board to reconsider its decision.

In the worst-case scenario, Orantes-Cruz could be ordered back to jail to again await deportation.

"We'll continue to fight," said her attorney, James Chin of Cleveland. "I feel fortunate that at least they let her out."

Chin said he would file a response to the government by today.

Orantes-Cruz began to cry Wednesday when she learned of the filing.

"Oh my God, have mercy," she said. "We're trying to get it together, so this is kind of scary for me right now."

She was 6 years old when adopted from an orphanage in El Salvador by a Twinsburg couple, but she never obtained her U.S. citizenship.

So in 2003, when convicted of felonious assault and kidnapping after a drunken fight with her former boyfriend, she was earmarked for deportation because the convictions and the three-year sentence made her removal from the United States automatic.

However, a legal maneuver by Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier -- who reduced her sentence to 360 days -- caused her removal from deportation status in accordance with immigration law.

Earlier this month, the Board of Immigration Appeals reconsidered the case and lifted the deportation order in light of the altered sentence.

But in a recent filing, immigration officials contend they never received notice of the briefing schedule in the case and thus were not able to respond to Chin's motion seeking to have the deportation order lifted. They want a chance to do that now.

Greg Palmore, an immigration spokesman, could say little about the case Wednesday.

"Basically, the appropriate documents have been filed, and we'll wait to get a response from the convening body," he said.

Orantes-Cruz is living in Akron in the home of her biological sister, Morena Sweitzer, who was adopted by another family in this area.

Sweitzer and her husband, Paul, cared for Orantes-Cruz's three boys, Nino, Alejandro and Owen, while Orantes-Cruz was in prison.

Last week, Orantes-Cruz chatted exuberantly about being home -- about how much she loved being around her boys, seeing how much they had changed, and adjusting to the freedoms that most take for granted.

But that exuberance was gone Wednesday as she struggled to stay composed.

She attempted to speak of spending her first Christmas with Owen -- who was only 11 months old when she was taken to prison -- but she couldn't.

"I can't take any more," she said, begging off the phone call. "This is not good. I just can't talk."

Memo:

Julie Wallace can be reached at 330-996-3542 or jwallace@thebeaconjournal.com

Copyright (c) 2005 Akron Beacon Journal

2005 Dec 29