MEMOIRS OF AN ILLEGAL ALIEN AN AMERICAN ADVENTURE Fernando is a table tennis player representing his school from Ecuador at the US Open in Miami in 1986. After the tournament, with his brother Jaime and his teammate Douglas, he gets on a New York City bound Greyhound bus. Fernando is captivated by the grandeur of the city and, after his return to Ecuador, dreams of going back someday. Three months later he returns to the United States. This time he overstays his visa and becomes an illegal alien. He struggles on account of things varied in nature and overcomes most of them. He also gets to savor some triumphs. He gets married in 1997 and obtains a work permit.

In 1999, he gets a DEA-sensitive clearance, and he starts to work in the wiretap department. His marriage ends up in a divorce before getting a green card, and he is in limbo. He continues to work wiretaps for the DEA, Customs, IRS, ICE, ATF, and others. His dedication, passion, and work quality, despite the fact that he is a high school dropout, catapult him to the top of his game, and he is offered to work directly for the DEA by starting his own company. He jumps at the chance, and with great success, he manages to work for the government in some of the most exciting drug-smuggling cases in the United States. Almost twenty-four years after his arrival to this country, Fernando is in need of a lung transplant. He still is an illegal alien and hopes that someday he will get his green card and maybe die a United States citizen, in the country that he loves. His father, an American citizen, filed a petition on his behalf in 2004, and the wait to legalize his status goes on.