Congressman intercedes in immigration case

A widowed illegal immigrant who was allowed to stay in the U.S. to care for her paralyzed husband for 14 years faces deportation to France unless a congressman's last-ditch effort gains momentum. Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski introduced a private bill Wednesday on behalf of South Side resident Corina Turcinovic, who has been detained by immigration officials since Dec. 28. But experts say the odds aren't good for Turcinovic, who overstayed a visa while taking care of her husband, Maro Turcinovic, who had been paralyzed from the neck down and died in 2004. "These bill pass fairly rarely," said Fred Tsao, the policy director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "It really depends how sympathetic the cases are."