Saturday, December 22, 2007

A heartwrenching story - Dream Turns Nightmare: Milwaukee Police Officer to Be Deported

The New York Times is carrying an especially poignant story about a boy who was raised "American" joined the Milwakee police department and was then ordered deported after an anonymous tip disclosed that he was not born in the U.S. Herewith is a portion of the story:

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.

The story is in the Saturday, December 22, 2007 issue of the New York Times (CATRIN EINHORN - author).

1 comment:

Unknown said...

While it is heartwrenching, it is U.S. law and he should not have been here illegally in the first place. Citizenship should be applied for.