A 28-year-old Delaware County woman who faced deportation to her native Guatemala has been given a one-year reprieve by federal authorities.
Zulma Villatoro was required to voluntarily return to Guatemala by July 2 or be arrested and expelled. She came to the United States with her mother illegally when she was 14. In 2006, she requested asylum, arguing that Guatemala's gang violence put her in jeopardy as a woman. An immigration judge rejected her argument.
Harold A. Ort, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an e-mail Friday: "ICE granted Zulma Villatoro a one-year stay of removal on June 15, 2011." Villatoro is expecting her second child. - Robert Moran
