U.S. Not Deporting Ecuadorian Native after Determining that She is "No Threat to Public Safety"

Sara Martinez, a native from Ecuador, will not be deported back to her country despite infringing on U.S. immigration laws.

She is the latest individual with irregular status in the U.S. to benefit from immigration policies under the Obama administration that allow certain irregular individuals to remain in the U.S. even after sojourning more time than permitted.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Martinez was arrested near Buffalo, New York after entering the country legally with permission to stay up to six months in 2005. 

She ended up staying because, according to her, "her daughter's father was in the U.S..."

In the case of Martinez, mother of the six-year old girl, authorities determined also that she could remain in custody of her daughter.

Although Martinez was facing deportation, her name was cleared from the list because she, like others, represented no threat to public safety.

The U.S. Federal government has been giving more priority to speed up the process of deporting irregular immigrants with a criminal record over those without one.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recently carried out an operation dubbed "Cross Check", the largest ever in the U.S., to arrest and ultimately deport irregular immigrants with criminal records. In total 3,168 people were arrested and almost 50 percent (almost 1,500 people) of those had felony convictions including murder, sexual assault, armed robbery, drug trafficking, and kidnapping.