A Peruvian mother living in the U.S. unlawfully, , risked being arrested by immigration officers Wednesday as she ventured to courtroom in Golden and got a first nod of approval in her efforts to stay in the country.
“I was scared,” Ingrid Encalada Latorre, who at Mountain View Friends Meeting in University Park. “It was a very long hearing, and the whole time I was nervous that I might be detained.”
A Jefferson County judge ruled that there can be a hearing to determine if she had ineffective counsel in her appeal of a felony guilty plea after a 2010 arrest for having falsified or stolen identification papers. Latorre says her first lawyer in the 2010 case gave her bad advice that pleading guilty wouldn’t impact her immigration status and that a second attorney, who was supposed to represent her appeal last year, didn’t show up to court.
“It was a huge victory,” said Jeff Joseph, Latorre’s immigration attorney.
Latorre was ordered deported because of the felony guilty plea and says an immigration judge told her that without her record — or with a lesser conviction — she likely could remain in the U.S. She is trying to get her guilty plea changed to a misdemeanor and says she didn’t know the papers she bought were stolen.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly has been in the country illegally in Colorado courthouses. Last month, Denver’s top officials warning that its officers’ actions are jeopardizing public safety by creating fear among immigrants when agents appear in courts.Latorre has filed two stays of deportation in her case, one of which was denied and the other — Joseph says — remains pending. Latorre , one 8 years old and the other 17 months old. The younger child, a boy, has been living with her in sanctuary at Mountain View Friends.
“The most difficult thing is not being able to do the activities that I would normally do with my sons,” Latorre, speaking through a translator, said of being in sanctuary. “We can’t go to the park or go out together.”
Latorre is one of at least two women in the U.S. illegally — , who is seeking refuge at the First Unitarian Society of Denver — living in sanctuary to avoid deportation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.