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03/25/2009 06:15 PM

Judge Adjourns Case Of Bronx Activist

By: NY1 News

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A well-known South Bronx activist will be allowed to stay in the country at least another five months.

Victor Toro was in immigration court hoping a judge would grant him political asylum in the United States.

The judge actually adjourned the case until August.

Toro who is an illegal immigrant from Chile, has lived in the Bronx with his wife for more than 20 years.

In 2007, he was arrested by border patrol agents as he was traveling on an Amtrak train from Upstate New York back to the Bronx.

He says he fled South America in the 1970s after spending three years in a concentration camp under then-Chilean Dictatorship rule.

"That government was financed and supported by the United States of America. So you can understand my client's apprehension about going to the U.S. government for help," said Carlos Moreno, Toro's lawyer.

"No happy, no happy, because it is a long time for a decision. It is very difficult for my family, my husband and my daughter," said Nieves Ayress, Toro's wife.

The Toro family says they're praying come August, Toro will be allowed to stay in the U.S. and not be deported.