Feds move to deport Norcross state senator's wife

By MARY LOU PICKEL, BEN SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/30/06
Federal immigration officials appeared at the home of State Sen. Curt Thompson (D-Norcross) this week to inform him that his new wife has a deportation order against her.

Thompson told agents his wife, Sascha Herrera of Colombia, was not at home at that time. She has not been taken into custody.


(ENLARGE)
State Sen. Curt Thompson (D-Norcross) says his wife is the victim of badly done paperwork.

Thompson, who has been an outspoken advocate for immigrant rights, said he checked Herrera's immigration status before marrying her in April 2006.

"When I got married, I was informed and I had good reason to believe, she was validly in this country," Thompson said. He said Herrera was in the country on a student visa. After the couple married, Thompson said "we applied for an adjustment of status," or a green card.

Thompson said the first he heard of the outstanding deportation order was when two agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement knocked on his door Tuesday morning.

He and his wife "hope to have this situation quickly resolved with the immigration authorities," Thompson said in a written statement Wednesday evening.

In the statement, Thompson said his wife is the victim of a "notario." In some Latin American countries a "notario" is an esteemed lawyer; in the U.S. it translates into notary public. Some U.S. "notarios" misrepresent themselves as lawyers and often file incomplete and improper immigration applications for unsuspecting clients.

'A common occurrence'

Herrera had an F-1 student visa when the couple met in December 2005, according to Thompson's statement. The problem arose because the notario did not put her address on one of her immigration applications and, therefore, she missed an important hearing about her status, said Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer representing Thompson.

"Tragically, this is a common occurrence," Kuck said. "There's one agency to which she's applying for a green card, changing her address as required, and telling them where she lives. Meanwhile, there's another agency of DHS [Department of Homeland Security] trying to deport her."

Kuck said in the last year he's seen about a dozen cases of "people getting deported because some notario put down the wrong address and they missed their interviews."

A spokesman for ICE declined to comment on the case.

Sascha Herrera graduated from college in Colombia in 2003 and became a staff writer for the bilingual Revista Elite Magazine in Atlanta in 2005, according to her biography on the magazine's Web site.

Herrera is a master's student in professional writing at Kennesaw State University, according to her biography.

Herrera also handles Thompson's public relations with the Hispanic media and translations, her biography says.

Herrera was a professional ballerina with the Ballet de Colombia de Sonia Osorio, according to short article on Thompson's legislative Web site announcing their marriage in Tennessee earlier this year.

Thompson advocated for immigrant rights during debates on illegal immigration that dominated both the state Legislature and Congress this year. He is a frequent speaker at events focused on immigration, including an October rally near the Capitol that drew a crowd of about 2,000 to march for legalization for immigrants.

During an August congressional hearing in Dalton focusing on the cost of health care for illegal immigrants, Thompson argued that the cost of such care is outweighed by the economic benefit immigrants bring to Georgia.

Thompson represents state Senate district 5, a diverse district including parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, where U.S. Census Bureau numbers show that about one in four of the county's residents is foreign-born.

Thompson speaks Spanish, French and German, according to a biography on his Web site. He said at the Dalton hearing that his district is so diverse he has to campaign in Spanish, Korean, Hindi, Vietnamese and Mandarin to keep his seat.