Undocumented mom-of-three from Peru who has spent three years living in a church fighting ICE is PARDONED by Colorado governor
- Ingrid Encalada Latorre was granted a pardon on Monday by Colorado Governor Jared Polis for her 2010 conviction of criminal impersonation
- The 36-year-old Peruvian mother-of-three spent the last three years in sanctuary at three houses of worship across the state
- The decision could pave the way for immigration case to be reviewed after she was arrested in 2010 for using another person’s legal document to work
- Latorre was backed by a judge who ruled in her favor after finding that her two attorneys were not forthcoming when they advised her to take a plea bargain
- The deal did not protect the woman from being deported and sent back to Peru – after leaving there at the age of 17
A Peruvian mother of three children was pardoned by Colorado Governor Jared Polis after spending the last three years in sanctuary at a church while avoiding a deportation order from ICE.
The Democratic politician’s decision could now pave the way for Ingrid Encalada Latorre to have her immigration case reviewed.
Latorre unlawfully entered the United States in 2000 as a 17-year-old.
But she got caught in the crosshairs of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in 2010 when she was arrested at her Bolder, Colorado, nursing home job for using false identification documents to gain employment.
The 36-year-old claims her attorneys ill-advised her into accepting a plea deal in the case, admitting she purchased a social security number in 2002.
The agreement, however, did not shield Latorre from deportation back to Peru.
Ingrid Encalada Latorre was granted a pardon by Colorado Governor Jared Polis nine years after she was arrested and pleaded guilty to using false documentation to work in the United States. Children pictured clockwise: Elizabeth, Bryant and Anibal
The Peruvian woman argued in court that her legal attorneys were not forthcoming with the counsel they provided as she accepted a plea bargain deal that did not shield her from being deported. Pictured left to right: Elizabeth, Anibal and Ingrid
Copy of executive order presented by Colorado Governor Jared Polis on Monday that granted a full and unconditional pardon after she was found guilty in 2010 of criminal impersonation
Latorre, a mother of three U.S.-born children stuck to her defense and battled ICE in court while finding refuge in three different churches across Colorado.
Latorre subsequently filed two cases in court and a judge ruled in favor of her first claim when the court found that her lawyers, Miguel Velasco and Duane Montano, weren’t not completely forthcoming in their representation.
The Peruvian woman did not heed an immigration judge’s order to voluntarily leave the country by May 15, 2016, and return to her hometown of Cusco, Peru.
She was hit with a $4,792 fine by ICE in June for not honoring the judge’s mandate.
Over time, Latorre became a proponent of immigrant rights, helping others in a similar plight as hers, including her husband, Eliseo Jurado-Fernandez, who in January 2018 was arrested by ICE while he was on his way to a grocery store in Boulder.
He was released a month later by immigration officials.
Latorre gave birth to a baby girl September 16 inside a rec room at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, where she had been staying at since December 2017.
Gov. Jared Polis (pictured) said he pardoned Ingrid Encalada Latorre because she is ‘working to educate others on legal ways to obtain employment and the consequences of using false documents’
Eliseo Jurado-Fernandez, pictured with his three-month-old daughter Elizabeth, is married to Ingrid Encalada Latorre, a Peruvian woman who had fought deportation and has spent the last three years in sanctuary
Polis’ clemency decision came two years after former governor and fellow Democrat, John Hickenlooper, turned down Latorre’s petition for a pardon.
Gov. Hickenlooper said his September 2017 decision was based on the identity theft victim spending ‘years dealing with the unlawful use of her Social Security number, suffering significant tax consequences and nearly losing government benefits she needed to support her own family.’
Despite forgiving Latorre, Polis said his office could not directly change her immigration status, but he believed the conviction would no longer make it an obstacle to remain in the country as a lawful resident.
‘Since your conviction, you completed your probation and paid restitution and back taxes. You are a dedicated and caring mother to your three children’ he said.
‘You are working to educate others on legal ways to obtain employment and the consequences of using false documents.’