Deported SoCal veteran becomes US citizen after lengthy legal battle

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – It took nearly a decade and federal lawsuit before U.S. Marine Corps veteran Hector Ocegueda-Rivera finally got home.

After a drunk driving conviction, he was deported to Mexico, a country he left with his parents as a child. The 53-year-old has lived in Mexico for the past nine years, but became an American citizen on Friday and was able to return to his family in Southern California.

Judge Mark C. Scarsi thanked Ocegueda-Rivera for his military service before taking the citizenship oath in a Los Angeles federal courtroom.

“As an American citizen for a future American citizen, I just wanted to thank you for that,” Scarsi told Ocegueda-Rivera, who wore a mask adorned with pictures of his father and his deceased brothers.

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Afterward, Ocegueda-Rivera smiled and stood with his mother and sister, who sobbed and kissed him on the cheek.

“I’m so happy,” said Ocegueda-Rivera, who was with the Marines at Camp Pendleton and in Japan. “I am very grateful for all the work everyone has done.”

He got to this point after joining a group for deported veterans in Mexico and applying to become an American citizen. Under US law, veterans who serve honorably during a conflict can become citizens if they meet a number of requirements, including an interview with a citizenship officer.

He was scheduled for the interview in Los Angeles last year, but was unable to attend because border authorities did not allow him to re-enter after he was deported.

Ocegueda-Rivera sued last month, asking US officials to give the citizenship interview at the border he might attend or allow him to cross the border so he could schedule an appointment in Los Angeles, which happened this week .

“It felt like I was going back home when I crossed that border. I was so happy,” he said.

A U.S. citizenship and immigration officer interviewed Ocegueda-Rivera on Thursday. A day later he became an American.

“I know the system is not perfect. I’m angry with the system – but not this country, ”Ocegueda-Rivera said before attending the ceremony with his sister and other relatives. “I love this country.”

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The case comes as the Biden government stepped up efforts to reach out to non-civil servants and veterans. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs announced plans to identify deported veterans, ensure they have access to their due benefits, and remove naturalization barriers for current and former service members eligible to become American citizens.

The American Civil Liberties Union published a report in 2016 detailing the cases of dozens of veterans who have been or have been deported, many for petty crime convictions. If these veterans had become citizens as a result of their military service, they would not have been deported.

Ocegueda-Rivera was brought to the United States by his parents from Mexico and grew up in the southern Californian city of Artesia. He served in the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1991 and spent four more years in the reserves before being honorably discharged. He married, had two daughters and received a green card through his wife.

But Ocegueda-Rivera also had a drug problem. He was convicted of drinking under the influence of driving, which prompted US immigration to deport him in 2000, his lawyers said.

Despite this arrangement, Ocegueda-Rivera returned to California to be with his family and participated in a drug treatment program through a local veterans hospital. But he was deported twice more. Ocegueda-Rivera says he has stayed in Mexico since 2012, where he worked as a driver and security guard and was in touch with the head of a group for deported veterans who encouraged him to stay there to pursue citizenship.

It came at a price. It was hard to get used to living in a country he’d left as a boy. But nothing compared to the pain of being apart from your family. His marriage suffered and he was divorced. He missed the time with his daughters. And he was lonely; he said his relatives have to work often and cannot visit him as often as he would like.

Now Ocegueda-Rivera is hoping to go back to school to work as a nurse, find a job and spend time with the people he loves.

“I’ll take it day after day,” he said. “It’s great to be here with you.”

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