KEARNS, Utah - The immigration debate was the focus of a rally in Kearns on Monday as supporters of a Utah woman facing deportation plead with federal and local immigration officials to let her and her family stay in the United States.
Ana Canenguez was sexually abused by a family member, pregnant at 14 and the mother of two at 17. She says she fled El Salvador to find a better life in the United States.
She came alone at first, had more children here in the U.S., then arranged for the remaining kids to leave El Salvador. But two of them were caught in Mexico last year and now Ana and every family member who was born in El Salvador faces deportation.
They are likely to be deported soon, once their appeals run out with federal immigration officials. Now they're pleading with anyone who will listen to not separate them again.
Ana says another reason she fears going back to El Salvador is that street gangs were recruiting her older sons and the boys were threatened with death if they refuse to join.
Friends and supporters of the Canenguez family gathered in Kearns on Monday to lend their voices to the cause of immigration reform and keeping the family together here in the United States.
Unless something happens that allows Ana and her sons to stay in the United States, they will likely be sent back to El Salvador later this year.
