Pedro Guzman sues government
"I will never forget what Peter looked like when he finally returned to the U.S. — exhausted and in terrible shape," said Guzman's brother, Michael. "Peter's life is forever changed by what his government did to him."See other posts on Guzman here and here.
His lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, was filed in federal court in Los Angeles by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Guzman.
"Not only does Peter and his mother want some vindication, they want to make sure immigration officials understand they can't do this," said attorney Jim Brosnahan, who represents Guzman. "They should have apologized and said they would take steps to make sure this doesn't happen again."
A statement released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a branch of Homeland Security, called the incident a "one-of-a-kind case" and added more than 1 million illegal immigrants have been deported since the agency's inception.
Cross-posted at Alas, A Blog
2 comments:
In addition, the event has caught the attention of the Federal Government, including some rather courageous House members (remember immigrant issues are not popular right now).
The House Subcommittee on Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law headed by Zoe Lofgren held a hearing the other week addressing "Problems with ICE Interrogation, Detention, and Removal Procedures."
She and a number of other House members DIRECTLY addressed the Pedro Guzman case, asking the ICE official some harsh questions.
Pedro Guzman's attorney was present and provided testimony as was an attorney from the Florence project who spoke specifically about how ICE does not provide appropriate accommodations to people with disabilities and indeed that people with mental disabilties were being detained and even pushed towards deportation.
It was a great hearing that took something that was wholly in the media and disability blogging community and really put it under a magnifying glass.
The hearing information and testimony is available at: http://judiciary.house.gov/oversight.aspx?ID=410
and by Monday I hope to have a summary available on my site.
One of the sadder aspects of the hearing was that the disability community was not present to reinforce the importance of this, especially in light of the recent problems with law enforcement and disability. But hopefully, that will not be the case should this arise again.
Day Al-Mohamed
www.DayinWashington.com
You know, I've known or met recently a number of people who've told me that they wouldn't have sued for various outrages, including medical malpractice, if the perps had only apologized and said sincerely and openly that (a) they would do everything in their power to make it right, and (b) they would do everything in their power to prevent it happening to others.
Such a simple, honest, human interaction, admitting one is wrong and offering to repair what one has broken through one's wrongness -- and yet not having it because of fear of being sued or seen as weak seems to be how a lot of people are getting sued.
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