Nuñez Granted One-Year Stay of Deportation

Eleanor Hoague is an advocate for Benjamin Nuñez.

She wrote on Thursday, May 8 to announce “good though limited news”… “Ben Nuñez has been granted a stay of deportation for another year, until May 6, 2015.

“Nuñez has been granted one more year and finally is going to be allowed to apply for a permit which makes his employment legal! This does not give us any additional “leg-up” or reason to hope for a longer term solution and certainly no reason to think that there might be an another extension next year if the Helsells are still not able to find a replacement. But at least we all should feel tremendously good about having helped obtain this further stay.

“I wish I could thank each of you individually for helping Ben and the Helsell’s, but there are simply TOO MANY PEOPLE. I received hand printed notes on scraps of paper from children who know and appreciate Nuñez, 4 page letters from ex-sawyers detailing what being a sawyer requires, to missives about how Ben’s departure would impact businesses, the San Juan economy, and even a few “love” letters (people who just really enjoy Ben’s company and think he embodies what makes up a model citizen). And then there were the organizations which wrote letters, newspapers which reported on his story, and public officials who stuck their necks out to support Ben.

“Everyone, and I mean everyone, pitched in.”