Jennifer I. Gaz - Prosecutor, ICE

At the 2007-12-06 hearing, when asked by the Immigration Judge whether DHS had any documentation to support it's allegations against me, Gaz admitted they did not TR 2007-12-06 p16l25-p17l3.

To be fair, Gaz phrased if more ambiguously, as "...I don't have copies of it". But the question was "Does the government have documents, the I-213 or anything else?"

And, obviously, Gaz had my case file with her. So for her to say she doesn't have copies of it means there are no copies of any such documents in my case file. In other words, the government did not have any documents supporting their allegation of alienage.

At the 2008-02-06 appearance, Gaz knowingly and deliberately lied to the Immigration Court regarding the efforts ICE had been making to establish my alienage.

To begin with though, we should acknowledge that any such efforts were legally required to be performed BEFORE my arrest and detention by ICE. So, in that respect, even if Gaz's claims were true, they amount to an admission that ICE illegally arrested me and continued to illegally detain me, without having established I was an alien.

The reason DHS was now claiming they were making sincere efforts to establish my alienage was because on 2008-01-18 I had filed a Motion to Terminate the removal proceedings based on the fact that DHS hadn't even established I was an alien Motion to Terminate Removal Proceedings, 2008-01-18. And DHS knew that without having established alienage, they had no authority to detain me or to place me in removal proceedings.

So, at the 2008-02-06 hearing, Gaz falsely claimed:

• My Deportation Officer Robert Cordero, "has searched San Bernardino Vital Records for the birth certificate, which he was not able to find" TR 2008-02-06 p20l8-10.

  That is false. As is stated in Cordero's sworn declaration, he did forward the birth certificate application I had filled out Declaration of Robert Cordero, ¶9, but neither Cordero nor Gaz mentioned that on 2007-11-15 the San Bernardino County Recorder sent Cordero a response letter saying: 1) he would have to provide the $17 fee; and 2) he would have to have me sign a release and have it notarized Letter from San Barnardino County Recorder, 2007-11-15.

  San Bernardino DID NOT state whether the birth record existed. And Cordero took no further action with San Bernardino.

  Therefore, it was false for Gaz to claim Cordero had searched San Bernardino Vital Records.

  And it was deliberatley misleading for her to say he was not able to find a record of birth. Of course if he doesn't search for it he won't find it!

• I had "refused to sign a document which we need in order ... for the Canadian authorities to, to release his information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement" TR 2008-02-06 p20l12-15.

  While not entirely false, that statement was entirely misleading.

  The document Gaz is referring to is an Ontario Canada birth certificate application form. And the reason I refused to sign it was because next to the signature line it said "I solemnly declare that I am a Canadian citizen...". By singing the form, I would be declaring under oath that I am a Canadian citizen. I had told Cordero that is why I will not sign it, but Gaz deliberately did not mention that.

  Gaz's claim that my signature on that document was required in order for the Canadian authorities to relase my information to ICE was also false. She was referring to a birth certificate application form, not a release form.

  Even if I signed the birth certificate application, that would not authorize the Canadian authorities to release the information to ICE.

  Moreover, there were avenues which ICE/DHS could have pursued with the Canadian authorities, to obtain the information or confirmation they were seeking. They could have contacted the Canadian Consulate and requested confirmation of my identity. They did, eventually, years later, pursue that and the Canadian Consulate, IRCC, and CBSA were more than happy to say whatever ICE wanted them to say.

• It has taken longer than expected to obtain a copy of my Canadian birth certificate or passport because of my refusal to sign the aforementioned "document" TR 2008-02-06 p20l15-17.

  My refusal to sign the given document, which was an Ontario, Canada birth certificate application and would amount to a sworn declaration of being a Canadian citizen, would have nothing to do with ICE's ability to request the Canadian Consulate or Global Affairs Canada confirm my identity or whether I am a Canadian citizen.

  Both Cordero and Gaz must have been aware of that because later, when ICE really got serious about trying to deport me, that is exactly what they did - they dealt with the Canadian Consulate to try to get them to declare I am a Canadian citizen.

  The real reason it was taking them so long to prove my Canadian citizenship was because I wasn't a Canadian citizen and they knew I wasn't a Canadian citizen.

At the 2008-02-06 hearing, Gaz also admitted on the record, that it is her understanding that DHS was required to establish my alienage before any further action against me could be taken, namely before I could be arrested and detained on immigration charges TR 2008-02-06 p21l21-p22l1.

You might think, having admitted that openly, though begrudginly, on the record, that DHS would agree to my release or the Immigration Judge would order my release, at least until such time as DHS actually established I was an alien. But no! The Immigration Judge just granted their request for a continuance to give them more time to try to prove I was an alien, and allowed them to continue detaining me on immigration allegations even though they hadn't established that I was an alien.