Thursday, 4:30 PM
Senators try to salvage citizenship of missing soldier’s wife
By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff
The state’s two US senators came to the aid Wednesday of the wife of a missing Lawrence soldier to make sure she is not deported.
While her lawyer has warned she could face deportation, federal officials said Wednesday there are no hearings scheduled.
Yaderlin Hiraldo and Army Specialist Alex R. Jimenez married in 2004 and Jimenez, a US citizen who lived in the Dominican Republic as a boy and later moved to New York, tried to obtain permanent legal status for his new bride. When federal immigration officials learned she entered the country illegally, however, they started deportation proceedings.
In May, 2006, she received a reprieve -- US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to halt the proceedings after her husband had been sent to Iraq. Last month, Jimenez and two other soldiers were abducted by Sunni insurgents. One was found dead, and Jimenez and the third soldier have not been found.
With Hiraldo’s status still unresolved, Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy have called on the Department of Homeland Security to let her stay.
Jamie Zuieback, an ICE spokeswoman, said, "ICE has no intention of deporting Mrs. Jimenez. The Department of Homeland Security is reviewing the case to determine what legal options might be available to resolve her status," she said.
Bryan Bender of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.
