CARRBORO - Elected officials asked U.S. Rep. David Price on Monday to help an illegal immigrant who fears she'll be killed if deported to her native Iran.

Sima Fallahi, 48, was detained last week after living in the United States for two decades. Her 104 Shelton St. duplex is a few blocks from Carrboro Elementary School, where she served in the Parent Teacher Association, and Weaver Street Market, the local natural foods hangout. Her paintings have hung in Town Hall.

Now Fallahi sits in a Mecklenburg County federal prison.

Her Western ideals, out-of-wedlock daughter and Unitarian beliefs would cause her to be "persecuted, tortured and/or killed" if deported, Fallahi wrote in a 1998 application for political asylum.

Mayor Mark Chilton and state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird urged Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, to intervene.

"As a father, it's sort of gut-wrenching to hear about," Chilton said. "I'm just concerned that two residents of Carrboro are in such distress right now."

In a written statement, Price agreed that "deportation to her native Iran would be devastating for her and her 10-year-old daughter." But after contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, he said Fallahi's only option is a court appeal pursued by a skilled lawyer.

Fallahi's supporters in Carrboro -- who include Dan Coleman of the town's Board of Aldermen -- are already raising money to hire one.

Fallahi's American-born daughter, Leila, who turns 11 Saturday, drives much of their concern.

She is staying with Bob Wright and Kathleen Barton, a now-engaged couple Fallahi introduced last year in Carrboro. They plan to seek guardianship.

Both fear that Fallahi, if deported, will be imprisoned or even killed by Muslim fundamentalists for having an out-of-wedlock child, especially with a non-Muslim.

"To us, this is life or death," Barton said. "If Sima goes back to Iran, they're going to kill her."

The couple has secured an immigration lawyer on Fallahi's behalf. Randall Stroud, representing the Araneda Law Firm, said he had reviewed too little of the case to comment.

Fallahi came to the United States in 1985 with a student visa. It was never renewed.

She applied for political asylum in 1998, stating in her application that she left Iran to study at Michigan State University in the 1980s after revolutionaries closed Iran's colleges.

"My family does not have anything to do with me and I will be left with no help trying to support my child and myself," she wrote.

The News & Observer was unable to clarify Monday whether the application was denied or even whether Fallahi formally submitted it. Barton, who gave a copy of the application to the newspaper, said she only knew that Fallahi was unsuccessful in seeking asylum.

Fallahi enrolled at UNC-Greensboro in 1992, according to college records. But Fallahi became pregnant and never graduated, said Diny Rahimtoola, a friend in Durham.

After living in Danville, Va., and Raleigh, Fallahi settled into Carrboro about five years ago. She was mostly unemployed, according to friends, and devoted to painting. Twice, she applied to serve on a town appearance committee.

Fallahi was detained Wednesday after applying for a Chapel Hill business permit to sell art on the street.

During a routine background check, the Chapel Hill Police Department found her name on "final order for removal" status on an immigration law enforcement database. She was detained at the Orange County jail until immigration authorities transferred her to federal prison.