Utahns rally behind deportee

Utah's art community is rallying behind Guillermo Colmenero, an emerging local sculptor and undocumented immigrant who was deported last week.

A motion to reopen Colmenero's case seeking legal status was recently denied, and his attorney said a past marijuana conviction has been the biggest obstacle in Colmenero's long-standing application for legal status.

Colmenero opted to be deported to Mexico on Thursday, his only option other than remaining in jail while his appeal is pending. His wife, Marla, a U.S. citizen, remains in Salt Lake.

"He's one of the top Latino artists in the state," Marla Colmenero said. "He wanted to be here legally. He made Utah his home for over 10 years. He didn't want to leave, but he didn't want to stay in jail either."

A fund-raiser to help Guillermo Colmenero continue his work and cover legal fees is scheduled for Tuesday from 5 to 9:30 p.m. at 440 W. 900 South. The fund-raiser will include a silent auction, music and tapas.

A previous fund-raising event brought in $5,000 to help the Colmeneros pay $7,000 in legal fees, Marla Colmenero said.

Marla says her husband has lived in Utah since he was a teenager. The couple has been married for nearly 10 years, and Guillermo has been trying for much of that time to adjust his status.

However, his former attorney, Lance Starr, said Guillermo Colmenero did not qualify to adjust his status because of a class A misdemeanor drug conviction from 1998. Marla said her husband was only 19 at the time.

Recently, Guillermo Colmenero was ordered deported when he missed a hearing in immigration court. He filed a motion to reopen his case, and that was denied by the local immigration judge. That decision is under appeal.

However, Starr, whose firm recently retired from the case, said it isn't likely that appeal will be granted. If it is, "all it does is reopen the case, which gives him the opportunity to come back and fight for his residency. His biggest problem is his criminal conviction."

Starr said Guillermo Colmenero's record was expunged, but that doesn't matter in immigration court. However, Guillermo could try to file a "402 motion" to reduce the class A misdemeanor to a class B, or he could seek a full pardon from the Board of Pardons.

"His only real hope at this point is a 402 motion," Starr said. "If he can get a 402 motion in his case, he could still come back."

That process could take two to three years, but Starr believes it could give Guillermo Colmenero a chance at legal status. That wait is shorter than the 10 years he'd likely have otherwise.

Cases such as Colmenero's aren't rare. Some similar cases have gone all the way to the nation's highest court.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a longtime Ogden resident re-entry to the United States, saying that he was subject to a 1996 federal law that tightened restrictions on deported illegal immigrants who unlawfully re-enter the country.

The Supreme Court is considering whether immigrants convicted of state drug felonies are deportable even if the same crimes are considered only misdemeanors under federal law.

Marla Colmenero said donations to her husband can be made to an account in his name at Washington Mutual locations. For more information on the fund-raiser, call 415-350-7217.

---

E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com