Stuck in a ‘bureaucratic mess,’ deported veteran fights for citizenship interview on U.S. soil – Press Telegram

For more than two years, a 53-year-old distinguished Marine Corps veteran who was deported to Mexico on a drunk-driving conviction in 2008 has been embroiled in a government Catch-22 as he battles to get U.S. citizens become.

Twice in 2020, U.S. citizenship and immigration officials scheduled Hector Ocegueda-Rivera for required naturalization interviews in Los Angeles. In both cases, the Department of Homeland Security denied him entry into the United States, including once when border police agents turned him away at the port of entry in San Ysidro.

“At first the officers didn’t want to help me,” said Ocegueda-Rivera, describing the border incident. “When I told them I had an appointment in the US, they just looked at me. I told one of the officers that I was with the Marine Corps. I gave him my military ID and he changed his mind. He said, ‘OK, let me speak to my manager and see if there is anything we can do.’ But then he came back and said they couldn’t help me. “

Lawsuit demands interview

Those encounters prompted Ocegueda-Rivera’s attorneys to file a lawsuit against the government on Monday, arguing that if he is not allowed to come to Los Angeles for an interview, immigration officers must come to see him at the border instead.

Hector Ocegueda-Rivera, a distinguished Marine veteran, is suing the federal government for permission to conduct a citizenship interview on US soil. (Photo contributed by Alma Ocegueda}

“Complete Hector Ocegueda-Rivera is eligible for citizenship, ”said Helen Boyer, one of his lawyers. “But the US government has created a bureaucratic mess that is making it impossible for Hector and other deported veterans to complete the naturalization process. One division of the Department of Homeland Security invites deported veterans for citizenship interviews and the other divisions prevent deported veterans from attending these interviews. It makes no sense.”

Neither Ocegueda-Rivera’s conviction for drunk driving nor his deportation prevents him from becoming a U.S. citizen, Boyer said. Federal law allows citizenship for all eligible military veterans who have served honorably during certain periods of hostilities, provided they meet certain requirements, including participating in a naturalization interview.

The lawsuit follows a policy guideline issued two weeks ago by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that said overseas veterans can apply for admission or parole in the United States to attend a naturalization interview and oath ceremony.

Ocegueda-Rivera has applied for parole but has not received a response from the government, Boyer said.

U.S. citizenship officials and immigration officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.

At least one other deported veteran in the same predicament as Ocegueda-Rivera has had better luck with the help of Boyer’s nonprofit law firm Public Counsel.

Roman Sabal from Belize, who went to the Navy in 1987 with forged documents and was deported in 2008, was also refused entry to the USA at the port of entry in San Ysidro in order to take part in a naturalization interview. The public counsel sued the government in 2019, and Sabal was eventually interviewed at the border in El Paso, where he became a U.S. citizen.

A veteran’s odyssey

Ocegueda-Rivera’s trip to the United States began in 1975 at the age of 9 when a woman who owned a dry cleaner in Artesia came to his hometown of Tecate, Mexico and asked his late father to work for her.

“Although he was happy in Tecate, life was tough and he thought it would be better for our family in the United States,” Ocegueda-Rivera said in an email recalling his father’s job offer. “So he moved to Artesia and a year later the rest of my family joined him. In the end he worked for this cleaning company in Artesia for over 30 years. “

Ocegueda-Rivera said life was idyllic growing up in Artesia with his parents, two brothers and a sister. “We had a wonderful family, and much of it was thanks to my father,” said Ocegueda-Rivera. “He was a great man. A beautiful man. He was a great example to us. He taught me how to work and he took care of us. “

Ocegueda-Rivera graduated from Gahr High School in 1986 and then attended Cerritos College for a semester before dropping out to work first at In-N-Out and then at a Paramount company that made commercial fencing .

In 1987 he joined the Marine Corps. “I wanted to do better myself,” he said. “My friend was in the military and told me about the GI Bill. I wanted to go to college after the military and I knew the GI could help Bill. “

Ocegueda-Rivera was stationed at Camp Pendleton for three years and then transferred to Okinawa, Japan, where he drove trucks for the Marines. On the way, Ocegueda-Rivera received several military commendations, rose to the rank of private and married his school friend. The couple, now divorced, have two daughters who live with several grandchildren in California and Florida.

After retiring from active service, he served honorably in the Marine Corps Reserves from 1991 to 1995, including during the Gulf War.

Difficult transition into civil life

The transition from military to civilian life was difficult for Ocegueda-Rivera.

He developed a drug addiction that resulted in criminal convictions for a range of criminal offenses from 1992 to 2006, including possession or use of controlled substances / paraphernalia, possession of a firearm, driving under the influence of alcohol, and driving with a revoked license.

“I missed the stability of the Marine Corps, and I found it really difficult to adapt to civilian life,” he recalls. “I tried to report back about three years after retiring from the military, but I got a DUI so they wouldn’t let me in. Little did I know about the perks or support I could get as a veteran which might have helped me adapt to civilian life. I didn’t have much support at all. “

The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego published a report in 2016 analyzing 59 cases of veterans who were evicted from the United States or who were still in the country but faced deportation. In many cases, due to the difficulty in transitioning to civilian life, the deported veterans have committed minor offenses and paid their debts to society, the study found.

The darkest days of Ocegueda-Rivera came in February 2000 when the Immigration and Naturalization Service charged Ocegueda-Rivera with a serious crime conviction of drunk driving, prompting a federal judge to deport him to Mexico.

“When they deported me, I couldn’t believe it,” he recalls. “I cried when I crossed the border into Mexico. I felt like I was being kicked out of my house. It was hard. I grew up in the USA. There are all my memories. I was little when I left Mexico. My whole family, all of them, are in the USA. For me this is home. “

The lawsuit describes the charge of aggravated bodily harm against Ocegueda-Rivera as an immigration law “concept of art”.

“Although a serious crime is an obstacle to naturalization … Mr. Ocegueda-Rivera has none,” the lawsuit said. “The Ninth Ward and the Supreme Court have made it clear that drinking driving convictions are not violent crimes … and therefore are not serious crimes that warrant deportation.”

Ocegueda-Rivera entered the United States illegally twice in search of reunification with his family, but was deported to Mexico again in 2002 and 2012. During a stay in the US in 2009, he settled in a hospital drug treatment program through a local Veterans Affairs program. The treatment was successful and Ocegueda-Rivera has been sober since then, says the suit.

Missed by the family

Alma Ocegueda, the 51-year-old sister of Ocegueda-Rivera, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday from her home in Chino that she and her mother try to visit him at least once a month in Tecate, where he is a security guard in a hotel is working . Even so, it is not the same as if he were in the US, she added.

“It’s like the piece of the puzzle that we are missing,” said Ocegueda, who cannot understand why the government is making it difficult for her brother to get citizenship. “It’s kind of crazy. He served his country. It’s contradicting itself. “

After being sent back to Mexico, Ocegueda-Rivera joined the Deported Veterans Support House in Tijuana in 2013. It was then that he learned that his military service qualifies him for US citizenship. “Nobody ever told me it was possible,” said Ocegueda-Rivera. “Otherwise I would have applied for citizenship while I was in the Marines.”

In 2019, with the assistance of his attorneys, Ocegueda-Rivera applied for citizenship and an expedited limited parole application with the ICE so he could attend a naturalization interview in Los Angeles

“I feel like someone is trying not to let me go back,” said Ocegueda-Rivera. “You’re not ready to give me another chance, you know? I think it’s unfair. These agencies are too tough. There are many families who have broken up because of deportations. There are also many mothers here who have been deported. You have to be with your children. “