Thread: Man deported after receiving bad legal advice killed in Mexi

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=30917

Man deported after receiving bad legal advice killed in Mexico


2005/9/21
CORNELIUS, Oregon (AP)

A man who had gotten national attention for his efforts to return to Oregon after he was deported to Mexico was killed in a shooting, his wife said.

The death of Rogelio Gallegos derailed plans by U.S. Rep. David Wu, an Oregon Democrat, to introduce a private bill in Congress to return him to Oregon.

Gallegos and three passengers were shot by several suspects as he drove his truck home from a celebration Sept. 11 near his hometown of Chupio in a rural region in the Mexican state of Michoacan, where he was raised.

Three men, including Gallegos, died at the scene, said Jose Valdez, a representative with the homicide division of the Michoacan justice department.

His wife, Cheryl Gallegos of Cornelius, had fought to bring her husband back to Oregon for the past two years after bad legal advice led to his deportation.

Cheryl Gallegos, 43, urged lawmakers allow her husband to return because a Seattle immigration attorney had mistakenly advised him to re-enter the United States illegally. The attorney has since fled the country and been disbarred.

Illegal immigrants who live in the United States more than a year, leave and then re-enter face deportation and a permanent ban on re-entry under a little-used federal law. Those banned can apply for a waiver after 10 years, but there is no guarantee it will be granted.

Rogelio Gallegos first entered the country in 1991, later left and returned in 2001.

"I want people to know he wasn't just an illegal alien that got kicked out," Cheryl Gallegos said. "He was such a good person who wanted to do things right."

Her attorney, Philip Smith of Portland, had launched a new case on behalf of her husband, trying to get a non-immigrant visa to bring him home and continue to fight for a waiver.

"It's tragic," said Smith, president of the Oregon chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

"I don't think we can blame immigration law directly, but at the same time, if the law would have been a little more humane, he would have been with his family in Oregon, not in Mexico," Smith said.

A spokeswoman for Wu said the congressman also was saddened by the news of the death.

"They were victims of bad legal advice. They were trying to do things right and suffered by being a divided family," said spokeswoman Jillian Schoene in Washington, D.C.

Cheryl Gallegos said she will keep fighting to change immigration law. She said her husband wanted to help other families affected by the law.

www.oregonlive.com

Hope to rejoin family dies with deportee
Immigration - A Cornelius woman mourns her husband, who was banished by U.S. law to Mexico, where he was killed
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ
The Oregonian
CORNELIUS -- A woman who fought to be reunited with her husband who was banished to Mexico after receiving bad legal advice is mourning his death in a roadside shooting.

Cheryl Gallegos' two-year effort to bring her husband, Rogelio, back to their Cornelius home had attracted national attention.

She learned of his death Sept. 11, hours after he was gunned down in an apparent argument among a group of people in Chupio, a rural region in the Mexican state of Michoacan where he was raised.

Rogelio Gallegos' death derailed plans by U.S. Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., to introduce a private bill in Congress to return the 33-year-old to Oregon. Wu intended to introduce the bill the week of Sept. 11.

Gallegos' wife was determined to find a waiver for him after he was permanently banned from the United States two years ago. Illegal immigrants who live in the United States more than a year, leave and then re-enter face banishment as part of a little-used federal law. Those banned can apply for a waiver after 10 years, but there is no guarantee it will be granted.

Rogelio Gallegos first entered the country in 1991, later left and returned in 2001.

"I want people to know he wasn't just an illegal alien that got kicked out. . . . He was such a good person who wanted to do things right," said Cheryl Gallegos, who lives in the small Washington County city of Cornelius.

Gallegos says she will keep fighting to change immigration law.

Rogelio Gallegos and three passengers were shot by several suspects as he drove his truck home from a celebration near his hometown. Three men, including Gallegos, died at the scene, said Jose Valdez, a representative with the homicide division of the Michoacan justice department.

"He was supposed to come home," Cheryl Gallegos said this week, sitting in her home filled with memories of life with her husband of six years. Toy cars that "Papa Rolli" used to entice their seven grandkids sit idle in a drawer, and the dusty gray shirt he wore the day he left for Mexico is tucked in a dresser.

"All of those dreams we had died," she said.

Gallegos urged legislators to forgive her husband because although he had violated the law, he did so only after a Seattle immigration attorney mistakenly advised him to re-enter the United States illegally. The attorney has since fled the country and been disbarred.

Wu had planned to introduce a second private bill to bring Rogelio Gallegos home. The first bill died last spring.

"The congressman expressed his sadness for Cheryl," said Jillian Schoene, a spokeswoman for Wu in Washington, D.C. "They were victims of bad legal advice. They were trying to do things right and suffered by being a divided family."

Cheryl Gallegos' Portland-based attorney, Philip Smith, had launched a new case on behalf of Rogelio Gallegos, trying to get a non-immigrant visa to bring him home and continue to fight for a waiver.

"It's tragic," said Smith, president of the Oregon chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "I don't think we can blame immigration law directly, but at the same time, if the law would have been a little more humane, he would have been with his family in Oregon, not in Mexico."

Gallegos, 43, a divorcee with three grown children, said she knew Rogelio was in the country illegally when they decided to marry in 1999. She said her husband could have sneaked back across the border, but the couple chose to stop hiding in the shadows.

Her story was told by newspapers in Seattle and Oregon. She fell into debt from legal fees, joined a group of Northwest families caught in similar dilemmas, and started a national campaign to raise awareness and change the law. In March, Gallegos traveled with other couples to Washington to lobby Congress.

Before she left, Rogelio Gallegos said in a phone interview from Michoacan that he was confident he would be forgiven. He said he wanted his wife's efforts to help other families in the same limbo.

"It may take a year or two, but I'm going to return," he said.

Meanwhile, the quiet man known for his warm demeanor had planned to open a gift store as a way to earn a living in his hometown, Puruaran. To get the store ready, he was using a $2,500 award that resulted from a grievance filed with the Washington State Bar Association against the disbarred attorney.

The last time Cheryl Gallegos spoke to her husband -- a day before his death -- she promised to send him clothes he could sell.

"He must have said, 'I love you,' to me at least six times," Gallegos said.

If he was trying to do things right why was he trying to sneak in illegally? Why was he slain?

Just out of curiosity, what celebration happens on Sept 11?