Costa Rican  Allowed to Stay In U.S. For Another Year
With nine days to go before she was scheduled to be deported, Marie Gonzalez got word Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security had responded to pleas from Congress and would allow her to remain in Missouri until July of next year.

"To be honest, I was kind of freaking out. It was Day 10 and then Day 9. Those single digits scare you," said Gonzalez, 20, of Jefferson City.

"I'm so excited about being able to continue my school and the chance to continue in the place I love and the place I call home."
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The case of Gonzalez, a student at Westminster College in Fulton became widely known as authorities persisted in an effort to send her back to Costa Rica, which she left with her parents, Marvin and Marina Gonzalez, in 1991. They were sent back a year ago, but Marie was given a one-year reprieve.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., pressed her case with Homeland Security, arguing that immigration legislation being considered in the Senate had a provision he authored, called the Dream Act, that might apply to Marie Gonzalez if the bill was passed. It would allow a pool of undocumented people to gain legal status by attending college or joining the armed forces.