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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed an electronic-monitoring anklet on Elsa Congachi de Ayala, a 46-year-old mother of three from Peru who was facing a deportation order this week. The federal agency is giving her and her lawyer more time to challenge the deportation notice. (The Oregonian )

A Peruvian woman who stayed in the United States years beyond her six-month visitor visa and was set to be deported this week has received a temporary reprieve, her lawyer said.

Attorney Michael T. Purcell said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fitted Elsa Congachi de Ayala, 46, with an electronic monitoring anklet as she works to challenge the deportation notice in immigration court.

"They're giving her some time to get her paperwork in order,'' Purcell said.

Congachi de Ayala's visa expired in April 2003. She has worked in child care in Oregon for nearly eight years and has lived in Hillsboro with her three U.S.-born children for nearly a decade. This month, she received an order for deportation, which was set to occur Wednesday.

Congachi de Ayala and her lawyer were in U.S. District Court in Portland on Monday, asking a judge to grant her a temporary restraining order to block her deportation.

Purcell contends that Congachi de Ayala never received proper notice of a 2003 government order of deportation. He said he's couldn't obtain the immigration documents necessary to challenge the case in immigration court before the scheduled deportation. He requested the information through a federal public records request, but was still waiting to receive the documents.

In court, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman got assurances from government lawyers that Purcell would have time to file a motion in immigration court to challenge the deportation order, even if he didn't have all the documentation available.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian