Police officer deported for false identity

Published Monday, December 24, 2007

MILWAUKEE (AP) - A man who took a dead cousin’s identity to pose as a U.S. citizen and become a police officer was deported from the United States and arrived yesterday in central Mexico.

Oscar Ayala-Cornejo, 25, was arrested May 31 after an anonymous tip and was charged with falsely representing himself as an American citizen.

He accepted a plea deal, agreeing to be deported, and resigned from the Milwaukee police force. A judge sentenced Ayala last month to a year of probation.

Darryl Morin, special projects coordinator for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Ayala left yesterday morning on a flight out of Milwaukee. Dense fog forced the cancellation of Ayala’s flight Saturday.

Ayala-Cornejo arrived yesterday evening at the international airport in Guadalajara, Mexico, where his family moved from in 1992. He was greeted by nearly a dozen relatives.

He said he was too tired to talk with reporters but indicated he would speak publicly in the coming days.

In a cell phone interview as he arrived Saturday at the Milwaukee airport, Ayala said he was sad to leave his family and friends but was optimistic. He plans to stay with relatives in Guadalajara and study computer engineering.

"I enjoyed my time here, and I have no regrets," he said.

Being a police officer was his dream job.

"I love this country," he said Saturday. "I love everything it has to offer."

Ayala said in November that his father helped him change his identity to Jose Morales, a cousin who was a U.S. citizen but who died as a child of stomach cancer. He told his father he wanted to become a police officer after the department recruited at his high school.

He said he would have had to go back to Mexico when he became an adult to wait years before becoming a citizen, and his father didn’t want to separate the family. His sister was married to a citizen, his brother was born in this country and his parents were on their way to becoming permanent residents.

His father died of leukemia in 2004 before he could see his son become a police officer that December. Ayala doesn’t hold his dad responsible.

"The cards that we were dealt just weren’t the best ones," he has said. "If I wouldn’t have done this, I would still be in Mexico waiting to see if I could ever see my family."

His 27-year-old brother, Alex, was fired from the police department in September for lying about his brother’s identity, but he won his job back this month with a 10-day suspension without pay.