LAWRENCE - The wife of a soldier from Lawrence who has been missing in Iraq for more than a month will get to stay in the country without fear of being deported while she awaits news of his fate.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will allow Yaderlin Hiraldo to apply for legal, permanent resident status without first returning to her native Dominican Republic. Had she been deported, she would have had to wait another 10 years to apply for residency in the United States.

The family of her husband, 25-year-old Army Spc. Alex Jimenez of Lawrence, was grateful for the decision.

"I am happy," said the soldier's father, Ramon "Andy" Jimenez, a Lawrence resident. "She's my son's wife, and it's good that she's going to be here when he returns."

Jimenez has been missing since his 10th Mountain Division unit was ambushed south of Baghdad on May 12.

Hiraldo and Jimenez met in the Dominican Republic, where they were high-school sweethearts. Jimenez later moved to Lawrence, where his father lives. Though she had been to Lawrence with her husband several times, Hiraldo is now staying with relatives in Pennsylvania.

In 2001, Hiraldo entered the country illegally. She had paid $500 to get to Mexico, and from there she walked four days over the border into the United States.

She and Jimenez were married at Fort Drum, N.Y., where his unit was stationed, on June 14, 2004, shortly before he left for his first tour in Iraq. Hiraldo came to the attention of immigration officials when the couple attempted to enter Canada while honeymooning at nearby Niagara Falls.

Jimenez, who received a Purple Heart last year when his arm was injured in Iraq, had petitioned for his wife to get a green card and legal resident status. He even appeared beside her in court in his full dress uniform.

Though a judge put off deportation proceedings until Jimenez could return from his second tour of duty in Iraq, Hiraldo's lawyer, Matthew Kolken, this week announced he was worried that she would face deportation at a later date, should Jimenez not return from the war.

Jimenez and fellow soldier Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Michigan, are believed to have been captured by a group linked to al-Qaida, which had claimed, on the Internet, that they killed both soldiers. Their ID cards were found last week in an al-Qaida safe house north of Baghdad.

The Jimenez family is still hopeful he will be found alive.

Kolken, based out of Buffalo, N.Y., said it was unfair that Hiraldo would have to worry about being deported while also worrying about the fate of her husband.

Powerful Massachusetts politicians, including Sens. John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, agreed. Both pressed the Department of Homeland Security to prevent deporting Hiraldo while her husband is still missing.

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, announced yesterday that he had instructed immigration authorities to take immediate action to resolve her case.

"The sacrifices made by our soldiers and their families deserve our greatest respect," he wrote in a letter sent to Kerry yesterday, "and we will ensure that Ms. Hiraldo's immigration case is given every possible consideration."

Kerry applauded the move.

"I am relieved and gratified that DHS is doing the right thing in Yaderlin's case," he said in a written statement. "We should be doing everything we can to honor her and her husband's sacrifice for our country."

Staff writer Yadira Betances contributed to this report.