IMMIGRATION NEWSMAN — THE NEWS SOURCE FOR ALL IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES
TOP IMMIGRATION NEWS — HEADLINES PAGE 2
Illegal immigrant becomes police officer; deported to Mexico
By the Editorial Staff
It was a dream job for 25-year-old Oscar Ayala Cornejo. Being a police officer carried a badge of honor for any immigrant. So he didn't think twice about taking a dead cousin's identity.
Cornejo's family moved to the U.S. from Guadalajara in 1992. He said his father helped him change his identity after his police department in Milwaukee recruited at his high school.
Cornejo told his father he wanted to try it out. But Cornejo said that due to immigration requirements his family realized he would have had to return to Mexico and wait there years before becoming a U.S. citizen, which is required before one could join the police force.
He said his father, who died of leukemia in 2004, also didn't want to separate him from the family. So he began using the name Jose Morales, a cousin who was a U.S. citizen but who died as a child of stomach cancer.
Cornejo was sworn in as Police Officer Jose Morales in May 2005. In May of this year, he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who said they received a tip that Cornejo had been using an assumed name.
Cornejo's brother, Alexander, who was born in this country, was also fired from the police department for lying about his brother's identity, but he was reinstated on appeal.
A bill that would have given legal status to illegal immigrants who graduated from high school in the United States, just like Cornejo did, was rejected by the Senate in October.
Reporters swarmed around Cornejo after his plane landed in Guadalajara, Mexico. He said being a cop was his “dream job” and he had no regrets. <
» Opinion
» The Naked Reporter's Immigration Blogs
» About Us
Census: Hundreds of thousands of immigrants cross state lines in search of jobs
By the Editorial Staff
Hundreds of thousands of new immigrants are leaving traditional gateway states and are fanning out around the country as they follow available jobs, according to U.S. Census data.
Records indicate the highest figures of movement across state lines since the early 1990s and may be a good indicator of changing economic conditions nationwide, officials said.
Census data from 2003 to 2006 showed an increase of 1.5 million people moving to another state each year. About eight million more people moved from one state to another in 2006 compared to year 2003, mostly fueled by immigrants searching for jobs, according to official records. In 2006, almost 50 million people, or about 16.2 percent of Americans, had changed residences.
Officials said the popular destinations for out-of-state movers are Arizona, Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon. They said most of the states are getting the outflow of immigrants from California, which surprisingly took a smaller number of movers from other states.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, formerly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), an estimated 2.2 million illegal immigrants live in California as of the year 2000, the latest year for which figures are immediately available. It said about 6.5 percent of California 's population were illegal immigrants, mostly from Mexico.
Local police join campaign against illegal immigrants
ATLANTA (ImmigrationNewsman.com) – Dozens of law-enforcement agencies across the country – from Arizona to Panama City Beach in Florida – are training with federal immigration officials and many have launched a controversial crackdown against illegal immigrants, authorities said.
At least 60 police and sheriffs departments have requested training from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said Marcy Forman, director of the bureau's office of investigations.
“It's something that is expanding,” Forman said. “It's certainly been a success.”
In Arizona 's Maricopa County, Sheriff Joe Arpaio – who has been described as “ America 's Toughest Sheriff – has started a hotline, allowing anyone to call a special number and report illegal immigrants. The move triggered complaints from advocates for immigrants, fearing it could lead to racial profiling.
“I guess I can begin by saying; ‘How are you going to know the difference,'” said Latino rights activist Lydia Hernandez, who said that Hispanics with greencards and the proper immigration papers might get cleared but would still go through a humiliating process.
Arpaio has dispatched more than 200 deputies and posse members to saturate cities and roadways known to be corridors for human smuggling.
He defended his controversial move, saying it is constitutional. “We're not going to go out on a street corner and round up people because they look like they're from a foreign country,” he said.
In Scottsdale, Arizona, police have begun asking arrested suspects to show their green cards or proof of citizenship. Those who are found to be in the country illegally are then turned over to federal immigration officials. The police action was an offshoot of the killing in September of a Phoenix police officer by an illegal immigrant who had been deported at least twice.
In Florida's Panama City Beach, a sheriff's department has reported more than 500 people to immigration officials since November. The department's technique was simple: deputies in patrol cars pull up to a construction site in force, then watch and see who runs.
Sheriff Frank McKeithen, who created his Illegal Alien Task Force in April to target construction sites, justified his techniques: "It's not wrong for them to run, but it's not wrong for us to chase them either."
Due to the crackdown, illegal immigrants have begun leaving the town. Builders say the lack of immigrant labor would deprive them of the manpower they need in the city's beach areas, where motels are being torn down and replaced with high-rise condos.
We're not going to go out on a street corner and round up people because they look like they're from a foreign country.'
Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio
In Southern California, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore says more than 1,400 prisoners were held for possible immigration violations during the first three months of this year alone.
In Georgia 's Hall County, Sheriff Steve Cronic, whose jail has an average of more than 200 illegal immigrants booked each month, welcomed efforts to cross-train police officers. “This isn't about immigration,” he said. “It's about illegal immigration.”
Hispanic leaders said the police training on immigration techniques would make immigrants less likely to cooperate and report crime if they fear potential deportation. They cited the case of Danny Sigui in Rhode Island. Sigui saw a murder unfold, called 911 and testified as a key witness during the trial in 1993. His testimony helped win a conviction, but, in the process, federal officials were alerted on his immigration status. He was later arrested, jailed and deported.
“Danny said that if something happened to his family, he would have wanted someone to come forward,” said Gregory Pehrson of Progreso Latino. “He thought it was the right thing to do.”
READ MORE IMMIGRATION NEWS — BREAKING NEWS
The News Source for Immigrants in America
“Everything about U.S. immigration”