Only if parents would have followed the rules
But now we lose a dedicated policeman
Hiding illegal status ruined cop's career
MILWAUKEE -- Oscar Ayala-Cornejo followed the path that leads many red-blooded Americans to law enforcement.
His family lived next to a crack house in Milwaukee, where he says he often heard gunshots and came home to find thieves had stolen the things that his father had worked hard to provide for his mother, older brother and sister.
(AP)
So he got excited when two officers visited his high school to recruit police aides. The 15-year-old decided he wanted to become a cop.
''I wanted to change my neighborhood, to change other people's neighborhoods, so they could feel safe, you know,'' said Ayala, now 25.
He wanted that badly enough to break the law.
Although Ayala's family moved to Wisconsin in 1992 from Guadalajara, Mexico, he says he didn't realize until after he'd made up his mind to wear a badge that he was in the country illegally. He didn't know until his dad, Salvador, told him.
A few days later, his father helped him find a way around the situation -- one that would eventually cost him his freedom.
His father's cousin Carmen, who lived in Chicago, would allow Ayala to take the identity of her son, Jose Morales, who was born five months after Ayala in Illinois and died about age 7.
Before his junior year, Ayala, calling himself Morales, switched high schools. The 16-year-old cut his hair, replaced his glasses with contacts and got braces.
He was nervous that his true identity would be discovered when he applied to be a police aide at 17, but he had established a work history. After he graduated in 2001, he entered the police aide program and stopped looking over his shoulder.
''Everybody at work, people at school, everyone I met would call me Jose, so eventually that was me,'' he said.
He became an officer in December 2004, about 10 months after his father died. Eventually, he worked in the same district as his brother Alex, a fellow officer born in the United States. And he found it rewarding.
Ayala says he never told anyone about the switch, but on Feb. 20, an anonymous caller informed a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent of Ayala's true identity.
Ayala was arrested May 31.
''I thought I was going to retire and live happily ever after, pay my taxes and all,'' he said.
Ayala was charged with falsely representing himself to be a citizen. Two weeks later, he agreed to a plea deal. He could get a year in a federal prison when he is sentenced Monday, or he could get probation. After he leaves prison, he will be permanently deported.
AP
