Mother Of 6 Francisca Lino Leaves Humboldt Park Church After Hiding For More Than 3 Years In Fear Of Deportation
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Francisca Lino hid in a church for more than three years in fear of deportation – until Saturday night.
"She feels like she can walk out of here without fear, where that wasn't like that a year ago," a spokeswoman said.
Lino, a mother of six, left her sanctuary at a Humboldt Park neighborhood church just two days after President Joe Biden ordered a 100-day moratorium on deportations for certain immigrants already in the country.
The move essentially pauses deportations, and allows Lino to head home to her family in Romeoville.
She said she no longer fears raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other immigration crackdowns from the last administration.
Lino had crossed the border from Mexico in 1999 and had been on ICE's radar since 2002 when she tried, unsuccessfully, to apply for a green card. Her husband, children, and grandchildren are U.S. citizens.
"She missed graduations. She missed to be there with her daughter to give birth to her grandson – many good times and happy times and sad times that she was unable to be there," the spokeswoman said.
When Lino heads home on Sunday, she will be accompanied by Miguel Perez Jr., a veteran who was deported in 2018 and later pardoned by Gov. JB Pritzker.
President Biden's proposed legislation creates a path to citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants and reduces the wait for green cards.
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