Michael Leal - Deportation Officer, ICE
Eloy, AZ 85131
Michael Leal was my Deportation Officer from late 2009 through August 2011, while I was detained at the Eloy Detention Center (EDC).
By the time Leal became my Deportation Officer I had already been ordered removed and was in the process of appealing that order.
Leal Requests A Travel Document from the Canadian Consulate
In December 2009, shortly after the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed my appeal, Leal requested a travel document from the Canadian Consulate, for my removal to Canada Global Affairs Canada internal messages, 2009-12-30.
On 2009-12-30, the same day Leal requested the travel document, the Canadian Consulate actually issued it - that same day; without speaking to me; without verifying I am the person ICE was claiming; and without verifying I even exist.
But prior to that request, I had already submitted an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, so the removal was temporarily stayed pending the outcome of that appeal.
Leal Transfers Me Back to the Maricopa County Jail
Shortly after that, in January 2010, Leal had me transferred to the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office (MCSO), on the original forgery charges.
I spent the next 13 months in MCSO custody fighting that case.
In February 2011, all those charges were dropped and I was transferred back to ICE custody, back to EDC, where Leal was again assigned as my Deportation Officer.
Leal Tries to Get Me to Commit Passport Fraud
On 2011-03-01, Leal brought me a Canadian passport application to fill out to start the process of obtaining a travel document from the Canadian Consulate.
I asked Leal what he wants me to put on the application. He responded something stupid like, "The truth". I knew that by "the truth" what he meant was to fill out the application with Ricky Riess's information. But that would, of course, be passport fraud.
I told him I don't think the Canadian Consulate is going to issue me a travel document if I put that I was born in the US and am not a Canadian citizen." Leal responded, "Write whatever you want. It doesn't matter."
Leal and the Canadian Consulate Ignore My Requests for A Travel Document
I then filled out the application with my own information (meaning, not Ricky Riess's information) Canadian Passport application filled out by me, 2011-03-01. I attached a letter to Leal, to the application, explaining why I was unable to complete specific parts Letter to Leal, 2011-03-01.
Due to problems I've had in the past, with ICE adding or changing information I'd provided on legal documents, I forwarded a copy of the application and the letter to Leal, to Marie Dextraze at the Canadian Consulate Letter to Dextraze, 2011-03-01.
I did not hear anything back from either Leal or Dextraze. I later discovered Leal had not forwarded that application to the Canadian Consulate. In fact, according to Global Affairs Canada's records, Leal had not even contacted the Canadian Consulate about me at all since my return to ICE custody in February 2011. I eventually found out, through freedom of information, that Leal had filled out another copy of the Canadian Passport application, using Ricky Riess's information Canadian Passport application filled out by Leal, 2011-03-01. He did not submit that application to the consulate either.
By 2011-03-28, having hearding nothing back from Leal and being under the impression it would only take a couple of weeks for the Canadian Consulate to issue the travel document, I followed up with Leal. He falsely told me the burden was on me to submit a request to the consulate to obtain a travel document. That is plainly false. In fact, the Canadian Consulate won't even accept an application for an emergency travel document for the purpose of deporation unless it comes from ICE.
When I spoke with Leal on 2011-03-28, he also falsely claimed he had been in contact with the Canadian Consulate and that they had informed him a travel document was forthcoming. He said that unless he received a letter from Dextraze directly, stating otherwise then ICE would continue to assume a travel document was pending.
Even though I knew Leal was lying, I sent a letter to Dextraze, informing her of Leal's claims, and formally requesting either a travel document, or for her to send a formal letter to Leal informing him a travel document would not be issued Letter to Dextraze, 2011-03-29. I CC'd Leal on the letter. Neither of them responded.
I didn't want ICE to be able to claim I had been refusing to cooperate in obtaining a travel when I filed a habeas petition under Zadvydas after six months. I knew that was a common argument DHS used in those habeas petitions.
Additionally, I knew from Dextraze, that she had previously issued a travel document for my removal to Canada in December 2009. I repeatedly requested Leal inform me what information that travel document was issued based on, so I could provide the same information to the Canadian Consulate, hoping that would help convince them to issue another travel document. Leal refused to respond. So I sent another letter to Dextraze, request she inform me what information that prior travel document was based on Letter to Dextraze, 2011-04-07. Again I CC'd Leal on this letter. And again, neither of them responded.
Some time around 2011-06-17, Leal told me he believes I've been failing to cooperate with ICE's efforts to obtain a travel document to facilitate my removal. I immediately suspected ICE was intending to argue at my eventual Zadvydas hearing that I have been refusling to cooperate and have been obstructing their efforts to obtain a travel document. So, I sent Dextraze yet another letter, this time inquiring whether, if I fill out the application using Ricky Riess's information, I will be prosecuted for that upon my arrival in Canada Letter to Dextraze, 2011-06-17. Again, I CC'd Leal on that letter. And again, neither of them responded.
Then, after almost five months of doing absolutely nothing with respect to either issuing the travel document, or formally stating they're not going to issue the travel document, there was suddenly a bunch of activity and internal communication about it within the Canadian authorities.
On 2011-07-27, Dextraze sent a message to Jane Chen with Passport Canada, wherein she said "ICE would very much like to remove subject to Canada..." Message from Dextraze to Chen, 2011-07-27. It's very curious to me that Dextraze explicitly stated "to Canada". If ICE and the Canadian Consulate really believed I was a Canadian citizen then Canada would be the default country to remove me to. It would not be necessary for Dextraze to explicitly specify that Canada is the country ICE would very much like to remove me to. I believe what caused Dextraze to make that statement was that Leal and Dextraze knew I wasn't a Canadian citizen, but Leal told her they would very much like to deport me to Canada nonetheless.
In that message, Dextraze then said, "...however they [ICE] have not yet sent us a completed ppt application" Message from Dextraze to Chen, 2011-07-27. This statement is very interesting, in the context of Leal, because I had provided Leal an application filled out with my information, on 2011-03-01 Canadian Passport application filled out by me, 2011-03-01; and Leal had also filled out another application with Ricky Riess's information, on 2011-03-01 Canadian Passport application filled out by Leal, 2011-03-01. However, Leal did not submit either of this applications to the consulate. I have no idea why Leal did not submit them.
It was not until 2011-08-10 that Leal actually submitted a request for a travel document to the Canadian Consulate Message from Dextraze, 2011-08-10. Leal had included with the request, a copy of the passport application he had filled out on 2011-03-01, with Ricky Riess's information. Dextraze wrote Leal back, informing him she could not proceed because too much information was missing from the application.
On 2011-08-18, Dextraze sent Leal an email, informing him I had just called her on the telephone, and of what was discussed during the call Message from Dextraze, 2011-08-18. One thing which becomes very apparent from this email is that Dextraze was cooperating with and assisting ICE much more than she was assisting me. Which is exactly what I would expect if I was not a Canadian citizen.
On 2011-08-26, I sent Dextraze a letter chronicling our 2011-08-18 converstaiton Letter to Dextraze, 2011-08-26. Leal was CC'd on that letter.
On 2011-08-30, I was taken from my cell at EDC, in the middle of the night, by ICE; driven to an airport in the middle of nowhere; put on a plane to an undisclosed location; then put into the back of a black SUV and driven to the Peace Arch port of entry in Blaine, WA, where I was dropped off and released from ICE custody. That was the end of Leal's involvement in my case.
I later learned, through freedom of information requests, that the Canadian Consulate did actually issue a travel document, on 2011-08-25, for my removal to Canada Travel Document, 2011-08-25. But for whatever reason, rather than actually deporting me at that time, ICE brought me to a US port of entry along the US-Canada border and released me there. Weird, huh?