Thread: Portland Decision on college student's deportation delayed

Decision on college student's deportation delayed for one year

Friday, November 30, 2007By Kurt Eckert
The Argus

http://www.oregonlive.com

Alejandra Trujillo, the 20-year-old college student and illegal alien taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Nov. 19, will remain in a Tacoma holding facility until a hearing next November, or until her family can raise $10,000 bail.

According to her Portland Community College advisor Brenda Maldonado, a judge at the Executive Office of Immigration Review said Wednesday that if Trujillo's bailed out, she can work with her attorney to apply for legal citizenship. She'll have a year to work on her papers," Maldonado said. "She had already begun that process."

Lorie Dankers, a spokesperson for ICE, says Trujillo last week agreed to return to her native Mexico willingly, then reneged on signing the paperwork.

While in the Tacoma facility, inmates are allowed unlimited free calls to foreign consulates and pro-bono attorneys, Dankers said. They may also make unlimited collect calls to family.

Sharon Rummery, a spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, says there are five main ways to become a legal permanent resident.

One can be petitioned by a family member or a potential employer.

"The employer would have to need your particular skill," Rummery said. "You need to have a degree."

Fear of persecution in your home country, or being a refugee processed elsewhere are two other ways, Rummery said.

The last possibility is to apply for a diversity or student visa through the federal Department of State.

Hillsboro police said Trujillo produced a Social Security card that wasn't hers when she went to have her driver's license renewed at the Tanasbourne Department of Motor Vehicles' office.

At a Nov. 19 hearing in Washington County Circuit Court, Trujillo pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fraud and was sentenced to time served and a $67 fine. She was then taken into ICE custody.

ICE agents have the authority to take individuals in the custody of other law enforcement agencies and begin deportation proceedings if they believe a federal immigration law has been violated, Dankers said.

Maldonado, who is from The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, automatically received American citizenship at birth. She lived in Pennsylvania before moving to the Pacific Northwest, and earned a bachelors and masters degree from Washington State University.

"It makes me reflect back on what makes us different," Maldonado said. "I have a paper and a Social Security number. Otherwise, we're pretty much the same."

Alejandra Trujillo, the 20-year-old college student and illegal alien taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Nov. 19, will remain in a Tacoma holding facility until a hearing next November, or until her family can raise $10,000 bail.

Next November????????????

According to her Portland Community College advisor Brenda Maldonado, a judge at the Executive Office of Immigration Review said Wednesday that if Trujillo's bailed out, she can work with her attorney to apply for legal citizenship. She'll have a year to work on her papers," Maldonado said. "She had already begun that process."

I still can't understand how an illegal alien can apply for citizenship while residing within our borders. That is a process that should take place from the applicants country of citizenship.

This article does not make sense.You cannot apply for citizenship if you are a convicted felon which this student is and you cannot apply for a visa or citizenship if you are here illegally.

If you could IA's would be lined up from one end of the country to the other applying.