Abused Woman Faces Deportation

An immigration judge on Friday ordered the deportation of a Mexican woman who was convicted of conspiring to kill a man who raped and terrorized her for five years after she arrived in the United States as a teenager.

Maria Suarez, who was a permanent U.S. resident, served 22 years in prison before being paroled last year.

Suarez, 43, was seeking to stay in the United States with her ailing mother and eight siblings, all of whom are U.S. citizens, but a federal law requires noncitizens convicted of violent crimes to be deported after their release from prison.

Judge Rose Peters made the decision during a closed hearing at a federal detention facility on Terminal Island at the Port of Los Angeles, where Suarez is being held.

Suarez’s niece, Patricia Valencia, said her aunt would appeal the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Her lawyers have 30 days to file the appeal.

“We didn’t wish for us to have to go this route,” Valencia said. “We are very sad, but at least she knows she is not going to go anywhere for the next few months.”