The ministry began with a Peruvian couple who settled in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in the 1990s because of political unrest in Peru.

On the outside, they look like an average Peruvian couple of their social class.

"You are indeed a very competent and qualified candidate," he said, dismissing her hiring of the Peruvian couple as "an honest mistake."

Under the immigration law, applicants for citizenship cannot be legally employed until they receive a visa and work permit, which the Peruvian couple did not have.

And immigration officials said an interview with the Peruvian couple had been set for next week to help decide whether they should be deported.

The agency then declared its intention to deport Victor and Lillian Cordero, the Peruvian couple who used to work for her.

"He's always saying, 'Let's find a nice Peruvian couple to take the baby,' but I haven't noticed them lined up in the street waiting."

It soon was disclosed that she had broken the law by hiring a Peruvian couple without working papers, and by failing to pay Social Security taxes on their wages.

But they said the I.N.S. never approved the certification for the Peruvian couple and thus neither ever had any legal status in the United States.

Two summers ago, she hired a Peruvian couple who were living in the United States illegally.