Immigrant teen leaves jail, still faces deportation threat (Iowa)

Estephanie Izaquirre, an 18-year-old girl who has lived in Des Moines since she illegally sneaked over the U.S. border five years ago, was released Tuesday night from the Polk County Jail, but she still faces the threat of deportation to her native Honduras.
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Izaquirre's lawyer had thought he was close to getting her legal status; he had used a provision in the law that allows young immigrants who qualify as "children in need of assistance" to get green cards even if they're in the country illegally. But immigration officials arrested her Thursday, two days after her 18th birthday and five days after she graduated from East High School in Des Moines, when they invited her to their office with an e-mail that implied they would complete paperwork for a green card. Gov. Tom Vilsack and others have called immigration officials' tactics "trickery."
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In his letter to Chertoff, (Sen. Tom) Harkin pointed out that Izaquirre is being deported to a country where she has no family. Her mother died of cancer, her father abandoned the family before she was born, and her guardian pressed her into prostitution.
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Iowa's other U.S. senator, Charles Grassley, did not have anything to do with the teenager's release, but his staff had heard of her case, a spokeswoman said.