Baby without a country: This Tacoma native can’t get his son into the United States
A Tacoma native has been separated from his infant son stuck in Mexico, a victim of bureaucracy and travel restrictions spawned by COVID-19.
Lucas Johnsen-Ayala was born April 2 to dad Aaron Johnsen and mother Karla Ayala in Culiacan, Mexico.
Johnsen, 35, grew up in Tacoma where he attended Life Christian Academy. He moved to Colorado from Tacoma in 2018 for a construction safety job, the career he studied for at Central Washington University.
Ayala, 27, grew up in Culiacan, where she works as an architect.
Their son is a U.S. citizen by birth but needs proper documentation to get his various citizenship rights started as well as to enter the United States. Normally, those documents would be processed at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City or one of several U.S. consulates.
But, COVID-19 has shut down U.S. diplomatic posts around the world, including Mexico. The couple started the process as soon as they obtained Lucas’ birth certificate in June but have made little progress. A Colorado congressman has stepped in to speed up the process.
In addition, Johnsen has not seen his son since July because his employer has been requiring a 14-day quarantine whenever he leaves the U.S.
International romance
Johnsen and Ayala met in an online chat room in 2015. Soon, they were talking on the phone and Skyping.
“Two years later we decided that we wanted to meet,” Johnsen said. “So, we met up in in San Diego, which is kind of halfway. We knew that if this goes really well, when we meet in person, we would start dating.”
Johnsen showed up early for their rendezvous.
“She got out of the taxi and we both had just big smiles,” Johnsen recalled. “And then we just gave each other hugs and talked for a little bit and were both really nervous.”
They met each other’s family and friends.
“After meeting Aaron I realized that there was no one like Aaron,” Ayala said.
Then, like a TV romance movie, they broke up for a few months.
“I guess that it helped us to really know that was what we wanted,” Ayala said of the breakup. “I remember the very first moment that I saw him after a couple months without seeing each other. I was crossing the border in San Diego and I was like, I don’t want to stop seeing him anymore.”
But long distance relationships are hard.
“It is exhausting,” Ayala said. “It’s really hard to share, like a lot of things that you would normally share in a relationship with someone that’s not here all the time.”
Johnsen proposed in August 2019 in Salt Lake City. She said yes. Two weeks later, they found out Lucas was on his way.
The couple had a religious marriage ceremony in Mexico in November attended by both families. But, the marriage wasn’t legal because their immigration lawyer advised them that getting married in either country using a tourist visa would slow down the process of the young family living together in the United States.
“I would have lied to the government and others, saying that I was traveling (to the U.S.),” Ayala said.
Instead, the couple have applied for a fiance visa, which is a faster process toward getting Ayala her green card.
“Since we found out that we were pregnant, we decided to do things right,” Ayala said. “Which would be Aaron filling papers for me to get a fiance visa.”
A baby between two countries
Lucas was born in Mexico. COVID-19 travel restrictions prevented Johnsen from attending the birth. He held his son for the first time in June.
“I laid him down on my knee,” Johnsen recalled. “And then he got this huge smile and started laughing, like he recognized me. It was a really cool moment.”
Lucas will have duel citizenship but traveling between Mexico and the United States without proper documentation could mean being stopped at the border going either direction.
Even if both parents are U.S. citizens, babies born beyond U.S. borders need certification to prove they are U.S. citizens.
The couple sent Lucas’ Report of Birth Abroad to the U.S. consulate in Hermosillo. For the first several months, the only response the couple received is that the consulate is closed indefinitely.
“There is no clear information about what’s really going on in the embassy or the consulate,” Ayala said in mid-August. “And we don’t really know what to do next with it.”
They were told by an official to make an appointment with a consulate only to find that appointments aren’t being made.
On its website, the U.S. embassy in Mexico City says it and “... all U.S. consulates general in Mexico suspended routine consular and visa services March 18 due to COVID-19.”
“I call the consulate. They say we’re not processing anything. So then I call the embassy. They say call the consulate,” Johnsen said in mid-August.
Living in limbo
Meanwhile, both Johnsen and Ayala are stuck in their home countries, unable to see each other.
If Johnsen travels to Mexico, he doesn’t have the time to spend in two-week quarantine.
If Ayala uses her tourist visa to visit Johnsen, she might have to leave Lucas in Mexico with her family.
The couple has had help from Colorado U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who told Johnsen he would file a congressional inquiry into the matter.
“That was a huge thing, just to get that help from somebody within government,” Johnsen said.
Crow’s office would not comment on pending cases, but Johnsen thinks the congressman’s help is already making a difference. Johnsen finally heard from the consulate in Hermosillo last week.
“It’s frustrating that different people are telling us different things in the same office,” Johnsen said Tuesday. “It’s confusing.”
Johnsen will travel to Mexico to see Lucas and Ayala over Labor Day weekend. Changing COVID-19 quarantine guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control have reduced the 14-day quarantine.
“He’s getting really big,” Johnsen said of Lucas. “And I’m really excited to see Karla. It’s been a while.”
This story was originally published September 5, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
