Deported Woman Returns

A woman deported from Minnesota has been granted humanitarian parole and is on her way back to the state Thursday. The parole is considered an extraordinary measure that is rarely granted. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security has sole discretion over the decision. "Tomorrow I go to church, my regular church and I say thank you," said Nixon Avendano. Avendano’s wife, Sara Gonzales, was accused of using two names and nationalities on an application to stay in America.A federal judge ordered her deportation—Gonzales had lived in St. Michael with her husband and five children for 15 years. But it is Edwin, her youngest son that has brought her back to America. The family said he is autistic and his condition had worsened in his mother’s absence. "When you got a little kid and he is sick, it's pretty hard. I know she's coming home," said Avendano. Under the humanitarian parole, Gonzales’ maximum stay in the United States is one year.