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State senator's wife surrenders to immigration officials

By ANNA VARELA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/04/06
State Sen. Curt Thompson's wife, Sascha Herrera, turned herself in to federal immigration officials on Tuesday.

The wife of the Norcross Democrat has been under a deportation order and her surrender today had been expected.

On the way in, Herrera said she felt nervous.

"I feel I'm doing the right thing," she said. "I'm just going to do what I need to, the legal way."

Thompson said he hoped his wife would be allowed to go home after meeting with immigration officials.

"Today is just the start of the process," he said.

Their attorney, Charles Kuck, said Herrera would not face a hearing today. "It's just simply an interview with officers at ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement].

Kuck has said Herrera decided "the best option for her to pursue is to turn herself in and let the system work for her."

He said he hopes the native of Colombia would be allowed to remain free and check in weekly with immigration officials.

Kuck said he planned to file a motion asking a judge to reconsider the deportation order.

Federal immigration officials came to the home of the couple, who married earlier this year, and informed Thompson his wife had a deportation order against her.

Thompson said in a statement last week his wife is the victim of a notario. The term notario refers to attorneys in many Latin American countries. In the U.S. it means notary public. A notario in the Herrera case failed to provide proper address information on some of her applications, Thompson said. As a result she missed notification of a key hearing.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on the case.








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