DEPORTATION NIGHTMARE MAY BE OVER

Akron Beacon Journal (OH)

AKRON WOMAN WHO MOVED TO U.S. AT 6 APPARENTLY CAN STAY

Author: Julie Wallace, Beacon Journal staff writer

At long last, it looks like Sandra Orantes-Cruz truly is free.

Orantes-Cruz, who was ordered deported last year but won a reprieve after her criminal sentence was reduced, learned Monday that the government's efforts to revive the deportation order failed.

That means the 31-year-old finally can move on with her life without fear of being returned to El Salvador, the country she left at age 6 when she was adopted by a Twinsburg couple.

"This is awesome," said Orantes-Cruz, who moved into a home in Akron's Ellet neighborhood last week with her three sons, ages 10, 6 and 4, and her boyfriend, Ron Ricketson, whom she dated years ago. "I was afraid to do anything, but I have to start living, I know, because I have my boys. Everything is falling into place."

Her attorney, James Chin of Cleveland, said the government still could appeal to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, but he deemed that unlikely. He received a letter Monday from the Board of Immigration Appeals saying Orantes-Cruz's case was done as far as it was concerned.

"Hopefully, this is it," Chin said. "It's been a long battle, but finally, it's over."

Orantes-Cruz was ordered deported after she was convicted in Medina County in 2003 of felonious assault and kidnapping after an alcohol-fueled fight with a boyfriend left him with a cut finger.

At the time of her adoption, citizenship was not automatic and had to be applied for separately. Neither she nor her adopting parents ever did that, so when she was sentenced to three years in prison, she automatically faced deportation after she completed the sentence.

Her sister, Morena Sweitzer of Akron, enlisted Chin's help -- hoping to keep her from being sent back to a country where they no longer had any relatives and where Orantes-Cruz would face a huge language barrier. She no longer speaks Spanish, the most common language.

Chin secured the first victory for Orantes-Cruz when the judge in her case, Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier, agreed to reduce her sentence based on her troubled history -- living on her own beginning at age 16 and being involved in two abusive relationships. She was diagnosed as suffering from battered women's syndrome.

Collier wasn't aware of a lot of Orantes-Cruz's background at the time of sentencing, and Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman, who didn't oppose the reduction, said that had her history been known, she probably would have received a lighter sentence.

Collier lopped the sentence to 360 days of probation -- a move that removed Orantes-Cruz from the mandatory deportation list. She was released from custody, and made it home in time for Christmas, only to learn that the government wasn't going to give up. An appeal of the decision was filed, making her freedom an uncertainty.

Orantes-Cruz, who never graduated from high school, said Monday she is looking for a job and thinking about going back to school as well. She talks proudly about her sons -- her oldest, Nino, is a stellar student, and she's happy with the school in Ellet that Nino and Alejandro, the 6-year-old, are attending.

Her youngest, Owen, was only 11 months old when she went to prison -- meaning he regarded Morena Sweitzer, who raised the boys for Orantes-Cruz, as his mother. When Orantes-Cruz was released from prison, she joined her family in Sweitzer's home in Akron, where she stayed until last week.

Orantes-Cruz said she tried to make the transition easier for her youngest -- making him a photo album filled with pictures of Sweitzer. He also calls her whenever the desire strikes him, she said.

"Everything is coming together better than I thought," she said, as she prepared to head out the door to watch a youth baseball game.