The immigration tale of the senator's wife

By Maria Elena Salinas

All her life, Sascha Herrera wanted to be a dancer. She traveled to the United States from her native Colombia in hopes of reaching her goal and also mending a broken heart. When she arrived in Atlanta, she got more than she bargained for. Not only did she get to dance in a special holiday performance, but she found love in the process, married Georgia state Sen. Curt Thompson and lived happily ever after.

That is, until she got a deportation notice from the Department of Homeland Security.

Her immigration story is not uncommon. She arrived on a tourist visa for six months and contacted a notary public to help her get an extension. The notary was supposed to be an immigration expert. She never doubted his authority, since in Latin America notaries have almost the same powers as attorneys.

It worked. So far, so good. But when Herrera tried to get a second extension so she could stay in the country to study English, she started running into problems. Her options were limited. The notary suggested that she apply for political asylum, but she was not convinced. So she did what many immigrants in her situation do: nothing.

Herrera lived in legal limbo until she decided to apply for a student visa. It was under these conditions that Sen. Thompson met the love of his life. He was swept off his feet watching the Colombian beauty in her dance performance last December. They were married four months later.

The shocker came when, in late November, officers from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit came knocking on their door.

"Where is your wife?" they asked Thompson. Herrera had violated two golden rules of immigration that she apparently was unaware of.

It turns out that the notary she had contacted years before had gone ahead and sent an application for political asylum on her behalf.

Since she had applied for a student visa months before, it raised a red flag with authorities. Immigration laws do not allow people to have two separate petitions at the same time.

On the asylum case, she was given a date to appear before a judge to review her request, but she never showed up. She claims she had no knowledge of the court appearance because she had not authorized the notary to apply for her in the first place, and that the notice to appear went to his office and not her house. Her failure to appear prompted the order of deportation.

This is where similarities to the cases of other immigrants stop.

Any other person in her situation would either be deported or go into hiding. Herrera confronted her situation and — accompanied by her husband — brought her case to a judge. Her deportation order was temporarily put on hold, pending an investigation.

In most cases, immigrants with a deportation order don't have the option of going before a judge to prevent it from taking place. The deportation is automatic. It does not matter what the personal circumstances of the immigrant are. At times, immigrants are deported without a farewell to their families, even if their family members are U.S. citizens.

Herrera had probably violated the rules when she was put on the list of undesirables, but she had not committed a crime. She just tried — through legal means — to stay in the country she came to know and love to start a new life. Sen. Thompson is using his wife's story to push for a more humane immigration reform. Being married to an influential politician didn't solve Herrera's problem, but it did help get the judge's attention and get her a second chance at love and life.

Maria Elena Salinas is anchor of "Noticiero Univision." Her e-mail address is msalinas@univision.net.