Police Officer Faces Deportation

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:02 am

MILWAUKEE — Growing up here, Oscar Ayala-Cornejo recalls, he played chess and devoured comics, hung out at the mall and joined the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. After high school, he realized a childhood dream, joining the Milwaukee Police Department.

But when Mr. Ayala-Cornejo filled out recruitment papers, he used the name of a dead relative who had been a United States citizen. He had to, Mr. Ayala-Cornejo says, because ever since his parents brought him here from Mexico when he was 9, he has lived in the country illegally.

The life that Mr. Ayala-Cornejo carefully built here, including more than five years with the police force, is to end at noon on Saturday, when, heeding a deportation order, he will board a plane bound for the country he left as a child.

In May, acting on an anonymous tip, immigration agents arrested him on charges of falsely representing himself as a citizen. He pleaded guilty, and is now permanently barred from the United States.

“I’m going to be saying goodbye to my family, my friends, my city — everything that I know, Mr. Ayala-Cornejo, 25, said in an interview at the home he shares with his widowed mother and his brother, filled with family photos.

The authorities say that in violating the law, Mr. Ayala-Cornejo made himself vulnerable to blackmail and assaults on his credibility that could have jeopardized police investigations. “You can’t be a law enforcement officer when you yourself are breaking the law, said Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mr. Ayala-Cornejo’s case is familiar to many illegal immigrants. Brought here by their parents illegally as children, they grow up thinking of themselves as Americans, often speaking English without a trace of an accent. But their immigration status frequently catches up with them when they prepare to attend college or take a job.

Those who avoid detection, if only temporarily as Mr. Ayala-Cornejo did, can lead lives more appealing than work at the carwash or in restaurant kitchens. Although usually associated with low-income jobs, illegal immigrants work in every sector, said Oscar A. ChacÃ³n, executive director of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities.

“Think about it: 12 million people, Mr. ChacÃ³n said of the estimated number of illegal immigrants. “Does it really mean they are all working in stockyards, as landscapers, in hotels? No, they are doing all the jobs you can think of.

Mr. Ayala-Cornejo recalls the basement apartment where he and his family once lived, next door to a house where drug sales were common. The neighborhood, on Milwaukee’s South Side, was so dangerous that he and his brother and sister were not allowed to play outside.

He did not know he was in the United States illegally, he said, until as a teenager he told his father that he wanted to enroll in a police apprenticeship program.

“I could tell there was something wrong: he just had that look in his face, Mr. Ayala-Cornejo said. “Like something inside him was a little crushed.

The next day, he said, his father told him the truth. He could not pursue law enforcement. He could even be deported. “From one moment to the next, Mr. Ayala-Cornejo said, “all my dreams and hopes are kind of out the window.

Mr. Ayala-Cornejo could have ultimately gained legal status because his brother was born in the United States, but it would have taken a decade or more, his lawyer says, and he would have had to leave his family in the meantime and return to Mexico.

His father, Mr. Ayala-Cornejo said, came up with a solution: A cousin in Illinois had a son, Jose A. Morales, a United States citizen who had died of leukemia in Mexico. He and Mr. Ayala-Cornejo would have been about the same age, and the family offered to turn over Jose’s birth certificate and Social Security number so Mr. Ayala-Cornejo could realize his dream.

“I didn’t hesitate, he said. “I was like, ‘O.K., if that’s the best option, then I’ll go for it, because I don’t want to be separated from my family.’

So at age 16, Mr. Ayala-Cornejo switched high schools, registering under his new name. He cut his hair and, abandoning his eyeglasses, started wearing contact lenses. In public, he referred to his mother and father as his aunt and uncle, and he called his siblings cousins. “In a way, I became Jose, he said, “because I knew there was no going back.

After high school, he joined the police apprenticeship program in 2001. In May 2005, he was sworn in as Police Officer Jose A. Morales, and was later assigned to patrol the streets where he had been forbidden to play as a child. In one of his proudest moments, he stopped a suicidal man from cutting his own throat.

But in February of this year, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent received a tip that Oscar Ayala-Cornejo had assumed the name of Jose Morales. In May, he was arrested.

Mr. Ayala-Cornejo’s brother, Alexander, who was born in this country and had also joined the Milwaukee police, was dismissed from the department for lying to a federal agent about his brother’s whereabouts, but was reinstated on appeal.

Criminal justice officials say Mr. Ayala-Cornejo’s actions could have put their work at risk, for instance by compromising prosecutions in which he gave testimony. “Asked to testify, said Mel S. Johnson, an assistant United States attorney who prosecuted the case against him, “the first question is state your name and spell your last name. It would be a false answer immediately.

“Ironically, Mr. Johnson said, “if he was a citizen, he would have been considered a good citizen.

A bill that would have given legal status to illegal immigrants who graduated from high school in this country, as Mr. Ayala-Cornejo did, failed in the Senate in October. Opponents argued that it would reward those who broke the law.

Mr. Ayala-Cornejo sees himself as a victim of circumstance. “At the time, we didn’t have any other option, he said. “We wanted to keep the family together, and this was the only way we could do that.

On Saturday, he will leave for his aunt’s house in Guadalajara, where, he said, he has had several job offers. He also wants to study computer engineering. His Spanish is good, he said, but he speaks with an American accent.

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:38 am

This is not really related to this but your post got me remembering our last visit to Canada to re-new our visas.

Last year we applied for the renewal of our visas in good time, and had the letter of approval prior to our visa expiring. All that was left was to leave USA and have interview at the American Embassy in Toronto. The embassy controls the interview date, you have no choice, they say when and you had better be there. They gave us a date that was after our visas expired - we thought nothing of it. Until .... we crossed the border into Canada!

The authorities said that as far as they were concerned we had been living in USA illegally for 2 months, as our visas had expired (even though we had our letter of approval)

The Canadian authorities said the best they could do was extend our visitation rights to Canada (under our British passports), from 3 months to 6 months - after that we would be deported.

I wonder if 'certain' other visitors (who don't even apply) would of had such problems.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:57 am

Pheasy that really sucks. I don't know what to say to that. I was just reading about a Scandinavian woman (her blog) and her experience of being at the airport, they checked her records and found she had stayed a few weeks longer on vacation on 1995 than she should have and that was a no-no so they proceeded to take her to a waiting room (this was at JFK airport,) deny her any phone calls, confiscated her cell phone, gave her some kind of barely edible food, then proceeded to put her in LEG CHAINS and walk her through JFK to put her back on the plane returning her home. This was her experience here in America. I don't know why the shoddy treatment.

How did your mess turn out?? Did the embassy admit to being at fault?

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:11 pm

RedGlitter;744817 wrote: Pheasy that really sucks. I don't know what to say to that. I was just reading about a Scandinavian woman (her blog) and her experience of being at the airport, they checked her records and found she had stayed a few weeks longer on vacation on 1995 than she should have and that was a no-no so they proceeded to take her to a waiting room (this was at JFK airport,) deny her any phone calls, confiscated her cell phone, gave her some kind of barely edible food, then proceeded to put her in LEG CHAINS and walk her through JFK to put her back on the plane returning her home. This was her experience here in America. I don't know why the shoddy treatment.

How did your mess turn out?? Did the embassy admit to being at fault?

I was really scared

We had our neighbours coming in looking after my cats and fish. The dogs where in kennels. I called my neighbour and asked if they would they bring the cats and dogs to Canada - as we could not get back into the country - we could not go anywhere - they took away our passports. :-1 My brain was all over the place - Bradley has a pet passport which would allow him to reenter Britain without the required 6 months quarantine, but Bonnie, Codi and Pichu did not. I was in tears, I thought we were going to be deported and my pets would be in kennels for 6 months in UK.

We met with lawyers in Toronto. The lawyer came across the border with us (I love her), and met with the authorities, she got us back into the USA without deportation. I never want to do that again!!

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:28 pm

That must have been a hellish experience. I'm sorry you guys had to go through that. They could at least have treated you with a bit of humanity while they got things sorted out.

I hate that animal quarantine. It is way too long.

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:35 pm

RedGlitter;744845 wrote: That must have been a hellish experience. I'm sorry you guys had to go through that. They could at least have treated you with a bit of humanity while they got things sorted out.

I hate that animal quarantine. It is way too long.

I have heard that many animals die in quarantine :-1 Its a difficult call - Uk does not have rabies because of it - so I guess its a good thing for that. But, I just don't think it is necessary anymore, when we were preparing to leave the UK, Bradley had a rabies shot (which is not required in the UK - as we don't rabies), then 2 blood tests to make sure he did not have rabies and was vaccinated against it. They then issued a passport allowing him to come back into the UK (as long as we kept up his shots) - Why can't this be done in other countries to avoid quarantine - maybe they do now :-3

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:44 pm

I was under the impression that the only two ways of testing for rabies was decapitation and ten day quarantine. Here in dog or cat bite cases they will often kill the animal and remove its head rather than simply waiting for ten days. It's mainly ignorance I think.

Fill me in on this rabies thing. Are you saying the UK really does not have any animals who carry rabies? Such as skunks for instance? I'm curious. I've never heard of this!

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:49 pm

RedGlitter;744872 wrote: I was under the impression that the only two ways of testing for rabies was decapitation and ten day quarantine. Here in dog or cat bite cases they will often kill the animal and remove its head rather than simply waiting for ten days. It's mainly ignorance I think.

Fill me in on this rabies thing. Are you saying the UK really does not have any animals who carry rabies? Such as skunks for instance? I'm curious. I've never heard of this!

I'm not sure about the tests they did, but they blood tested him to make sure the rabies shots had worked - it took tests. Maybe it was testing the vaccine and not actually rabies :-3

Yes, I am saying UK does not rabies. I would have to look it up (I'll do that in a mo), but we have not had rabies in the UK for a long time.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:53 pm

Wow, that's got me intrigued, Pheasy. I don't mean to put you to any extra trouble, I just thought rabies was a threat anywhere certain animals were. Indeed, why can't US do something to get like that?

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:54 pm

A 2003 article would indicate that I could be wrong ... We need Spot !!

http://technology.newscientist.com/arti ... he-uk.html

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:06 pm

It looks like the pet passport scheme has been introduced into other countries now. Thanks Red for thread :-4 It made me look and now I will get Bonnie, Codi and Pichu covered as we are having to renew our visas again next year - at least I will know that if all goes wrong I can take them back to the UK without quarantine :-4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... uarantines

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:15 pm

Hee hee! I do that too: "Spot!!"

It says despite UK's status as a rabies free nation- see I learned something. I wonder why I didn't know that? Thanks Pheasy!

Post by **spot** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:25 pm

The UK's effectively rabies-free, the issue over bats seems to me to be a red herring. No people or dogs here have it and wild mammals are free as well - the bat thing is just plain odd but it seems not to be effectively transmissible between species or there'd be cases and there aren't.

I'm surprised you managed to get back into the US pheasy, I'd have thought they'd ban you in those circumstances. Do you know on what basis you were allowed back in?

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:30 pm

spot;744895 wrote: The UK's effectively rabies-free, the issue over bats seems to me to be a red herring. No people or dogs here have it and wild mammals are free as well - the bat thing is just plain odd but it seems not to be effectively transmissible between species or there'd be cases and there aren't.

I'm surprised you managed to get back into the US pheasy, I'd have thought they'd ban you in those circumstances. Do you know on what basis you were allowed back in?

We left it to the lawyer to sort out. But I think it was based on the letter of approval was issued prior to our visa expiring.