DENVER (AP) - The governor of Colorado issued a pardon Monday for a Peruvian immigrant who has lived on and off in Colorado churches since 2016 to avoid deportation.
Gov. Jared Polis pardoned Ingrid Encalada Latorre for a 2010 conviction for possessing falsified or stolen identification papers that placed her in deportation proceedings by federal authorities.
With the pardon, deportation proceedings against her can be reconsidered, the Colorado Sun reported.
In a letter to Encalada Latorre, Polis said he hoped the pardon might help her fight to live legally in the U.S.
A native of Cusco, Peru, Encalada Latorre has said she entered the U.S. in 2000.
She served probation, paid restitution and is raising three children who are U.S. citizens. She had appealed the 2010 conviction, citing inadequate legal counsel.
In 2017, then-Gov. John Hickenlooper denied a pardon request from Encalada Latorre, citing the impact of her actions on victims.
She has been living in Denver-area churches off and on since December 2016 to avoid deportation.
Polis also commuted life sentences of three people and pardoned four others.
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