Bolanos

Those concerns are well justified, said Bolanos, speaking through a translator.

Call for help leads to possible deportation for Hyattsville mother Shankar Vedantam 2010

Last Christmas Eve, Maria Bolanos made a decision she would later regret: During a fight with her partner, she called the Prince George's County police and sought their protection.

Call for help leads to possible deportation for Hyattsville mother Shankar Vedantam 2010

"Dora the Explorer" plays endlessly on the TV in her second-floor apartment, in deference to the wishes of her daughter, Melisa Arellano-Bolanos.

Call for help leads to possible deportation for Hyattsville mother Shankar Vedantam 2010

Months later, the fight forgotten, Bolanos found an arrest warrant waiting for her on the charge she was selling phone cards without a license.

Call for help leads to possible deportation for Hyattsville mother Shankar Vedantam 2010

Bolanos said she came to the United States in 2004 in search of a better life.

Call for help leads to possible deportation for Hyattsville mother Shankar Vedantam 2010

ICE is misrepresenting the program in order to implement a nationwide deportation instrument, said Gustavo Andrade, organizing director at CASA de Maryland, which has been trying to help Bolanos.

Call for help leads to possible deportation for Hyattsville mother Shankar Vedantam 2010

"I was leaning towards Meg Whitman until the whole immigration thing came on," Bolanos said.

Meg Whitman Housekeeper Scandal Shakes Up Governor's Race AP 2010

Nancy Bolanos, a 31-year-old medical biller in Fresno, is a registered Democrat who said and she's getting annoyed by the governor's race because it's getting "dirty."

Meg Whitman Housekeeper Scandal Shakes Up Governor's Race AP 2010

Another member of the group, Miguel Osvaldo Bolanos-Acevedo, a. k.a "El Cochero." 48, was sentenced earlier to 160 months in prison, authorities said.

Drugs smuggled inside car batteries Dan Morse 2010

Bolanos said she came to the United States in 2004 in search of a better life.

Call for help leads to possible deportation for Hyattsville mother Shankar Vedantam 2010