Pedro Guzman
This is a story that's been floating around for the past week. Penny covered it, and Belledame at Fetch Me My Axe has too. From the ACLU press release:
U.S. Citizen Illegally Deported From Jail Is Missing in MexicoAs noted at And We Shall March:
ACLU and Law Firm Seek Federal Help to Find Developmentally Disabled Man
Monday, June 11, 2007
LOS ANGELES — Federal immigration officers and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department illegally deported a U.S. citizen last month, the ACLU/SC has learned. He is missing in Mexico, and today the ACLU/SC and the law firm of Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking his safe return.
Pedro Guzman, 29, was born in Los Angeles and raised in Lancaster, California. He was serving time at Men’s Central Jail for trespassing, a misdemeanor offense, when he was deported to Tijuana May 10 or 11. Mr. Guzman is developmentally disabled, does not read or write English well, and knows no one in Tijuana. He declared at his booking that he was born in California.
He spoke to his sister-in-law by telephone from a shelter in Tijuana within a day of his deportation, but the call was interrupted. Family members traveled to the city in an attempt to find him and have remained there, searching shelters, jails, churches, hospitals, and morgues.
There are no circumstances under which government officials may deport a U.S. citizen. Federal officials have refused requests by family members and a private lawyer to assist in the search for Mr. Guzman.
"This is a recurring nightmare for every person of color of immigrant roots," said ACLU/SC legal director Mark Rosenbaum. "Local jail officials and federal immigration officers deported the undeportable, a United States citizen, based on appearance, prejudice, and reckless failure to apply fair legal procedures."
"What has happened to Pedro Guzman is a tragedy," said Stacy Tolchin of Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale. "His life may be in danger, and the government must act immediately to locate him and return him to the United States."
Jail and Department of Homeland Security officials failed to identify Mr. Guzman’s disability and improperly obtained his signature for deportation from the United States. "The procedures for determination of legal status implemented by Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs … fail even minimal criteria for constitutional due process," the lawsuit states.
Sheriff's deputies trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conduct immigration checks at L.A. County jails. The ACLU and immigrant-rights groups warned that involving local law enforcement in immigration policing would lead to mistaken deportations and violate the due-process rights of inmates.
Anyone with information about Mr. Guzman can call the ACLU/SC at (213) 977-9500.
Guzman, a Southern California native, was abandoned in a place where he knows absolutely no one, with no money and without cognitive ability to get himself back to his home. As of right now our government won't even formally ask Mexican officials to search the morgues. That's how little care is extended for someone who is not a missing white girl.
There are no circumstances in which government officials may deport a U.S. citizen.
4 comments:
It's a case that's gotta strike fear in every person who might not be able to explain herself in a stressful situation. And the stories of Guzman's mother searching for him in Tijuana, living out of her car, are heartbreaking.
Just a note that the LA County Sheriff's Department being sued in this case is the same one that's in trouble because they let Paris Hilton out of jail after a day or two, because of overcrowding.
I hope Pedro Guzman is found soon. It's every disabled child mother's nightmare to have something like this occur. People are so ignorant of the limitations of others and reform is needed on a general scale.
I am praying for him and his family, and that something like this NEVER happens again.
Yeah. He had a minor criminal record and neither the LASD or the ICE cross-referenced that database. They didn't do nearly enough to make sure but hey, he's Latino, he has to be an undocumented immigrant.
In California, there's a real fear among the White leadership that they will lose control and power to Latinos as their numbers increase. Even legal immigrants and citizens are seen as threats to that.
There's a lot of pressure in Southern California cities particularly those in Orange County to push for more involvement by local LE agencies. Several cities and even counties have passed resolutions promoting involvement or the carrying out of immigration checks. Others like the LAPD supposedly have special orders in place to not be involved in immigration issues.
But the federal government needs to help his family find him. Why should they exhaust all their savings for the government's mistake?
Not sure if this is a comfort or not, but the US is not the only country to screw up in this way.
A couple of years ago, there were two similar high-profile cases in Australia, both women, one definitely a citizen, one maybe a citizen, maybe a permanent resident (accounts vary), both clearly ill when they were detained by Immigration.
Vivian Alvarez Solon (deported to the Philippines)
Cornelia Rau (locked up in the awful Baxter Detention Centre, which is an immigration detention centre)
It is all so incredibly shocking. I hope they find Pedro Guzman soon.
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