The Guatemala-born Cache Valley resident was scheduled to be deported Friday morning. But when he reported with his attorney to immigration officials in Salt Lake City, Carias instead won an extension that will allow him to stay in the United States for at least 10 more months.

The new deportation deadline of April 30, 2007, might give the Virginia-based Board of Immigration enough time to reopen and review Carias' case, says his Salt Lake City attorney, Hakeem Ishola.

"That puts us on a good path to getting his green card," Ishola said. "If not for Senator [Orrin] Hatch's tremendous help, I don't think we would have been able to get an extension of the stay of deportation for a whole year."

Carias previously had secured two 60-day extensions.

Trained as a surgeon, Carias has made the Cache Valley his home since 1993. Today, he works as a manager at Icon Health and Fitness in Logan and has volunteered in the community as an LDS branch president, soccer coach and Boy Scout leader.

He came to northern Utah to care for his father at the end of his life and stayed because of political unrest in his homeland, working at first at a thrift shop.

Carias said he crossed the border with his wife and children carrying valid green cards, passports and other documents. Carias blames his current immigration woes on previous attorneys who made paperwork errors and missed deadlines.

abrunson@sltrib.com