ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997                  TAG: 9703070075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C6   EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: HAMPTON 

WIDOW'S CASE TAKEN UP BY CONGRESSMAN

Rep. Herbert Bateman, R-1st, has agreed to introduce a bill in Congress to make the Panamanian widow of a retired Army veteran an American citizen.

Mercedes Cruz is facing deportation because her husband died after they had been married only 23 months, a month shy of the two-year requirement before an immigrant spouse of a U.S. citizen can obtain legal residency.

``I can breathe a little easier,'' Cruz said Wednesday. ``I am very glad, very glad, that they have heard me and are helping. Not that I've won the fight yet.''

Cruz has a 2-year-old son who is a U.S. citizen.

The two-year rule is intended to discourage people from entering into fraudulent marriages to get someone legal residency.

-ASSOCIATED PRESS

LENGTH: Short :   26 lines